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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



SHAKESPEARE'S 



THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 



Edited, with Notes, 



WILLIAM J. ROLFE, A.M., 

FORMERLY HEAD MASTER OF THE HIGH SCHOOL, CAMBRIDGE, MASS. 



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CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Introduction to The Comedy of Errors . . q 

I. The History of the Play " 9 

II. The Sources of the Plot JO 

III. Critical Comments on the Play 1 1 

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS 33 

ACT l • 35 

" » 44 

" II[ :- 55 

" IV :.. 6; 

" V S 3 

Notes 99 




TEMPLE OF DIANA AT EPHESUS. 

INTRODUCTION 

TO 

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 



I. THE HISTORY OF THE PLAY. 

All the critics agree that the Comedy of Errors, though 
first printed in the folio of 1623, is one of the earliest of the 
plays. It is mentioned by Meres (see M. N. D p. 9), and 



io THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

is probably the " Comedy of Errors, like to Plautus his Me- 
nechmus" which, according to the Gesta Grayorum, was 
"played by the players" at Gray's Inn, one night in De- 
cember, 1594. The pun in iii. 2. 121 on France " making 
war against her heir " would seem to show that the play was 
written between August, 1589, when the civil war about the 
succession of Henry IV. began, and July, 1593, when it end- 
ed.* Furnivall makes the date 1589, Collier "before 1590," 
Chalmers, Drake, Delius, and Stokes 1591, Malone 1592, 
Fleay (lutrod. to Shakespearian Study) "circa 1594" (in the 
earlier Manual, 1592). 

The Comedy of Errors is the shortest of the plays, having, 
according to Fleay (in Ingleby's Shakespeare : the Man and 
the Book, Part II. p. 101), only 1777 lines ("Globe" ed.), 
while Hamlet, the longest, has 3929, Richard III. 3589, etc. 
The next shortest is Macbeth with 1998, and the next The 
Tempest with 2062. The present play, in Fleay's opinion, 
"we have only in its acting form, probably much abridged;" 
but of course this is a mere conjecture. 

II. THE SOURCES OF THE PLOT. 

"The general idea of this play," as Singer remarks, "is 
taken from the Men&chmi of Plautus, but the plot is entirely 
recast, and rendered much more diverting by the variety and 
quick succession of the incidents. To the twin brothers of 
Plautus are added twin servants, and though this increases 
the improbability, yet, as Schlegel observes, 'when once 
we have lent ourselves to the first, which certainly borders 
on the incredible, we should not probably be disposed to 
cavil about the second ; and if the spectator is to be en- 

* A writer in the North British Review, April, 1870, attempts to show 
that events in French history of earlier date are alluded to. Henry of 
Navarre, he says, became heir to the throne on the death of the Duke 
of Anjou in 1584, and remained so until he became king on the murder 
of Henry III., Aug. 2, 15S9. 



INTRODUCTION. Ir 

tertained with mere perplexities, they cannot be too much 
varied.' " 

On the question whether the poet drew his plot directly 
from the Latin of Plautus or from some earlier dramatization 
of the story (it is pretty certain that the play was written be- 
fore he could have seen Warner's translation of the Mencech- 
mi), see the quotation from Verplanck below. Knight also 
believes that Shakespeare may have read Plautus in the 
original, and Hudson (in his " Harvard" ed.) takes the same 
ground. 

III. CRITICAL COMMENTS ON THE PLAY. 
[From Drake's "Shakespeare and kis Times"*} 

This drama of Shakespeare's is much more varied, rich, 
and interesting in its incidents than the Mmathmi of Plau- 
tus; and while, in rigid adherence to the unities of action, 
time, and place, our poet rivals the Roman play, he has con- 
trived to insinuate the necessary previous information for 
the spectator, in a manner infinitely more pleasing and art- 
ful than that adopted by the Latin bard; for whilst Plautus 
has chosen to convey it through the medium of a prologue, 
Shakespeare has rendered it at once natural and pathetic by 
placing it in the mouth of vEgeoo, the father of the twin- 
brothers. 

In a play, of which the plot is so intricate, occupied in a 
great measure by mere personal mistakes and their whim- 
sical results, no elaborate development of character can be 
expected ; yet is the portrait of ^Egeon touched with a dis- 
criminative hand, and the pressure of age and misfortune is 
so painted as to throw a solemn, dignified, and impressive 
tone of colouring over this part of the fable, contrasting well 
with the lighter scenes which immediately follow — a mode 
of relief whichis again resorted to at the cfose of the/drama, 

* Shakespeare and his Times, by Nathan Drake, M. D. (London, 1S17), 
vol. ii. p. 28S. 



j 2 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

where the reunion of ^Egeon and Emilia, and the recogni- 
tion of their children, produce an interest in the denouement 
of a nature more affecting than the tone of the preceding 
scenes had taught us to expect. 

As to the comic action which constitutes the chief bulk of 
this piece, if it be true that, to excite laughter, awaken atten- 
tion, and fix curiosity, be essential to its dramatic excellence, 
the Comedy of Errors cannot be pronounced an unsuccessful 
effort : both reader and spectator are hurried on to the close, 
through a series of thick-coming incidents, and under the 
pleasurable influence of novelty, expectation, and surprise; 
and the dialogue is uniformly vivacious, pointed, and even 
effervescing. Shakespeare is visible, in fact, throughout the 
entire play, as well in the broad exuberance of its mirth, as 
in the cast of its more chastised parts — a combination of 
which may be found in the punishment and character of 
Pinch, the pedagogue and conjurer, who is sketched in the 
strongest and most marked style of our author. 

If we consider, therefore, the construction of the fable, the 
narrowness of its basis, and that its powers of entertainment 
are almost exclusively confined to a continued deception of 
the external senses, we must confess that Shakespeare has 
not only improved on the Plautian model, but, making allow- 
ance for a somewhat too coarse vein of humour, has given to 
his production all the interest and variety that the nature 
and the limits of his subject would permit. 

[From Verplancli's " Shakespeare.'''' *] 
There are about ten or twelve plots of comic accident that 
have come down to our times from remote antiquity — some 
in the narrative form and others in the dramatic — which are 
so rich in unexpected or ludicrous situations and circum- 
stances, so fertile in new suggestions and combinations, that 

* The Illustrated Shakespeare, edited by G. C. Verplanck (New York, 
1S47), vol. ii. p. 5 of C. of E. 



INTR OD UC T10X. j 3 

they have passed along from generation to generation, 
through various languages and widely differing forms of so- 
ciety, always preserving the power of interesting and amus- 
ing, and affording to one race of wits and authors after an- 
other a happy groundwork for their own gay'ety or inven- 
tion. 

Among these is the story of the Mencechmi of Plautus, 
founded on the whimsical mistakes and confusion arising 
from the perfect resemblance of twin brothers. Plautus is 
to us the original author of this amusing plot; but it is quite 
probable that the old Latin comic writer stands in the same 
relation to some Greek predecessor that the moderns do to 
him. There are some Greek fragments preserved of a lost 
play of Menander's, entitled Didy?ni, or the Twins, which, 
there is great probability, was the original comedy here 
adapted by Plautus, as it is known he did other Greek orig- 
inals, to the Latin stage. The subject became a favourite 
one among the dramatists of the Continent at an early period 
of our modern literature. A paraphrastic version or adapta- 
tion of the Memzchmi was, it is supposed, the very earliest 
specimen of dramatic composition in the Italian language; 
and, in- various forms and additions, more or less fanciful, the 
subject has kept possession of the Italian stage. There is 
also a Spanish version of it about the date of the Comedy of 
Errors. In France, Rotrou, the acknowledged father of the 
legitimate French drama, introduced a free translation or im- 
itation of Plautus's original upon the French stage. La No- 
ble farcified it some years after into The Two Harlequins ; 
and, finally, Regnard, in a free and spirited imitation, trans- 
ferred the scene from Asia Minor to Paris, adapted to French 
manners and habits, clothed his dialogue in gay and polished 
verses worthy of the rival of Moliere, and made the Mencech- 
mi a part of the classic French comedy. 

Such was the early and wide-spread popularity of this plot, 
before and soon after Shakespeare's time, which I mention 



j 4 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

rather as a curious fact of literary history, or perhaps of the 
philosophy of our lighter literature, than as directly connect- 
ed with Shakespeare's choice of a subject; for, indeed, there 
is no clear indication that he had recourse to any other orig- 
inal than the Latin of Plaufus himself. Of this there was, 
indeed, a bald and somewhat paraphrastical translation by 
Warner, which it is possible (though there is little probabili- 
ty of it) that Shakespeare may have seen in manuscript. 
This was published in 1595, which is later than the probable 
date of the Co?nedy of Errors. There is also evidence of 
the existence of an old play called The Historie of Error, 
which was acted at court in 1576-7, and again in 1582, and 
is conjectured by the critics to have been founded on the 
same plot ; but this seems a mere gratuitous conjecture, for 
which no reason but the use of the word " error " in the title 
has been assigned. That title would rather designate a 
masque or allegorical pageant of Error than a comedy of 
laughable mistakes. There is no resemblance between 
Warner's translation and the Comedy of Errors, in any pe- 
culiarity of language, of names, or any matter, however slight, 
which could not (like the main plot) have been drawn from 
the orio-inal bv a verv humble Latinist. The accurate Rit- 
son has ascertained that there is not a single name, or 
thought, or phrase peculiar to Warner to be traced in Shake- 
speare's play. Steevens and others maintain the opinion (to 
which Collier also seems to incline) that the old court-drama 
of The Historie of Error was the basis of the present play, 
that much of the dialogue, incident, and character is retained, 
and that Shakespeare merely remodelled the whole, and add- 
ed some of those scenes and portions which bear their own 
evidence that they could have come from his pen alone. 

All these conjectural opinions, though made with great 
confidence by several critics, seem to me wholly unfounded. 
There is no external evidence whatever of the existence of 
any such play as is alleged to have been incorporated in 



INTRODUCTION. 



15 



this comedy, and the internal evidence seems to me equally 
clear against a double authorship by writers of different 
times and tastes. The whole piece is written in the same 
buoyant spirit, with no more pause to its gayety than was 
needed to add to the interest by graver narrative dialogue. 
Broad and farciful as much of it is, it has as much unity of 
purpose and spirit as Macbeth itself. The dramatist used 
the Latin comedy (whether in the original or a translation is 
immaterial on this occasion), as he afterwards did Holin- 
shed's history, using the incidents only as the materials of 
his own invention; and this was done in an unbroken strain 
of merry humour, as if the- author enjoyed all the while his 
own frolic conceptions and the puzzle of his audience, Plau- 
fcus had on his stage a pair of resembling brothers, to form 
the central action of his plot. Such a resemblance, though 
rare, is not out of the ordinary probability of life. Resem- 
blances sufficient to puzzle strangers and occasion ludicrous 
mistakes are by no means uncommon; while the judicial an- 
nals of France (see Causes Celebres) in the case of Martin 
Guerre, and of New York in that of Hoag (1804), exhibit a 
well-attested chain of perplexities arising from such similar- 
ity of person, etc., even surpassing those of the Menaechmi, or 
the Antipholuses and Dromios. Such a resemblance then, 
however rare, is within the legitimate range of classic com- 
edy as a picture of ordinary social life; and Regnard has 
treated the subject accordingly in a pure vein of chastised 
comic wit. But Shakespeare, writing for a less polished au- 
dience, and himself in the joyous mood of frolic youth, bold- 
ly overleaped these bounds, added to the twin gentlemen of 
his pages a pair of undistinguishable buffoon servants, and 
revelled in the unrestrained indulgence of broad droll- 
ery. . . . 

The date of 1593, placing this among the author's earlier 
works, corresponds with various other indications of style 
and versification, and cast of thought, not decisive in them- 



!6 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

selves. Thus the alternate rhymes in which the courtship 
of the Syracusian Antipholus is clothed is in the taste of 
Shakespeare's earlier poems, and corresponds also with the 
versification of some of the love-scenes in the first edition 
of Romeo and Juliet, as well as with passages in Love's La- 
bour \r Lost. The long doggerel lines, in which so much of 
the more farcical part is written, is a vestige of the older ver- 
sification still used on the stage at the commencement of 
Shakespeare's dramatic career. This, in various forms of the 
longer rhythm, had come down through English literature 
even from Saxon poetry, and had been employed for the 
gravest subjects, as not unworthy of epic, narrative, or devo- 
tional poetry. It had gradually given way, for such purposes, 
to more cultivated metres, such as are now in use ; but was 
still used in dramatic composition by Shakespeare's immedi- 
ate predecessors, for all purposes of dialogue, whether grave 
or gay. Shakespeare (so far as I can trace the subject) 
seems to have been the first who perceived the peculiar ad- 
aptation of these long hobbling measures for ludicrous effect, 
and who used them for nothing else. 

[From Knight's " Pictorial Shakspere." *] 
Coleridge has furnished the philosophy of all just criti- 
cism upon the Comedy of Errors in a note, which we shall 
copy entire from his Literary Remains : 

"The myriad-minded man, our, and all men's, Shakspere, 
has in this piece presented us with a legitimate farce in 
exactest consonance w r ith the philosophical principles and 
character of farce, as distinguished from comedy and from 
entertainments. A proper farce is mainly distinguished 
from comedy by the license allowed, and even required, in 
the fable, in order to produce strange and laughable situa- 
tions. The story need not be probable, it is enough that it 

* Pictorial Edition of Shakspere, edited by Charles Knight (2d ed. Lon- 
don, 1867), vol. ii. of Comedies, p. 256 fo.l. 



INTRODUCTION. 



n 



is possible. A comedy would scarcely allow even the two 
Antipholuses; because, although there have been instances 
of almost indistinguishable likeness in two persons, yet these 
are mere individual accidents, casus ludentis natures, and the 
verum will not excuse the i?iverisimile. But farce dares add 
the two Dromios, and is justified in so doing by the laws of 
its end and constitution. In a word, farces commence in a 
postulate, which must be granted." 

This postulate granted, it is impossible to imagine any dra- 
matic action to be managed with more skill than that of the 
Comedy of Errors. Hazlitt has pronounced a censure upon 
the play which is in reality a commendation : " The curiosi- 
ty excited is certainly very considerable, though not of the 
most pleasing kind. We are teased as with a riddle, which, 
notwithstanding, we try to solve." To excite the curiosity, 
by presenting a riddle which we should try to solve, was pre- 
cisely what Plautus and Shakspere intended to do. Our poet 
has made the riddle more complex by the introduction of 
the two Dromios, and has therefore increased the excitement 
of our curiosity. But whether this excitement be pleasing 
or annoying, and whether the riddle amuse or tease us, en- 
tirely depends upon the degree of attention which the read- 
er or spectator of the farce is disposed to bestow upon it. 
Hazlitt adds, " In reading the play, from the sameness of 
the names of the two Antipholuses and the two Dromios, as 
well as from their being constantly taken for each other by 
those who see them, it is difficult, without a painful effort of 
attention, to keep the characters distinct in the mind. And 
again, on the stage, either the complete similarity of their 
persons and dress must produce the same perplexity when- 
ever they first enter, or the identity of appearance which the 
story supposes will be destroyed. We still, however, having 
a clue to the difficulty, can tell which is which, merely from 
the contradictions which arise, as soon as the different par- 
ties begin to speak ; and we are indemnified for the perplex- 

B 



1 8 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

ity and blunders into which we are thrown, by seeing others 
thrown into greater and almost inextricable ones." Hazlitt 
has here, almost undesignedly, pointed out the source of the 
pleasure which, with an " effort of attention " — not a " pain- 
ful effort," we think — a reader or spectator of the Comedy of 
Errors is sure to receive from this drama. We have "a clue 
to the difficulty ;" we know more than the actors in the 
drama ; we may be a little perplexed, but the deep per- 
plexity of the characters is a constantly increasing triumph 
to us. We have never seen the play; but one who has thus 
describes the effect: "Until I saw it on the stage (not man- 
gled into an opera), I had not imagined the extent of the 
mistakes, the drollery of them, their unabated continuance, 
till, at the end of the fourth act, they reached their climax, 
with the assistance of Dr. Pinch, when the audience in their 
laughter rolled about like waves."* Mr. Brown adds, with 
great truth, "To the strange contrast of grave astonishment 
among the actors with their laughable situations in the eyes 
of the spectators, who are let into the secret, is to be as- 
cribed the irresistible effect." The spectators, the readers, 
have the clue, are let into the secret, by the story of the first 
scene. Nothing can be more beautifully managed, or is al- 
together more Shakespearian, than the narrative of yEgeon ; 
and that narrative is so clear and so impressive that the 
reader never forgets it amidst all the errors and perplexities 
which follow. The Duke, who, like the reader or spectator, 
has heard the narrative, instantly sees the real state of 
things when the denouement is approaching: 

** Why, here begins his morning story right." 

The reader or spectator has seen it all along — certainly by 
an effort of attention, for without the effort the characters 
would be confounded like the vain shadows of a morning 

* Shakespeare's Autobiographical Poems, etc, by Charles Armitage 
Brown. 



INTRODUCTION. I9 

dream ; and, having seen it, it is impossible, we think, that 
the constant readiness of the reader or spectator to solve the 
riddle should be other than pleasurable. It appears to us 
that every one of an audience of the Comedy of Errors, who 
keeps his eyes open, will, after he has become a little famil- 
iar with the persons of the two Antipholuses and the two 
Dromios, find out some clue by which he can detect a dif- 
ference between each, even without "the practical contradic- 
tions which arise, as soon as the different parties begin to 
speak." Schlegel says, " In such pieces we must always 
presuppose, to give an appearance of truth to the senses 
at least, that the parts by which the misunderstandings are 
occasioned are played with masks; and this the poet, no 
doubt, observed." Whether masks, properly so called, were 
used in Shakspere's time in the representation of this play, 
we have some doubt. But, unquestionably, each pair of per- 
sons selected to play the twins must be of the same height 
— with such general resemblances of the features as may be 
made to appear identical by the colour and false hair of the 
tiring-room — and be dressed with apparently perfect sim- 
ilarity. But let every care be observed to make the decep- 
tion perfect, and yet the observing spectator will detect a dif- 
ference between each ; some peculiarity of the voice, some 
"trick o' the eye," some dissimilarity in gait, some minute 
variation in dress. We once knew two adult twin-brothers 
who might have played the Dromios without the least aids 
from the arts of the theatre. They were each stout, their 
stature was the same, each had a sort of shuffle in his walk, 
the voice of each was rough and unmusical, and they each 
dressed without any manifest peculiarity. One of them had 
long been a resident in the country town where we lived 
within a few doors of him, and saw him daily; the other 
came from a distant county to stay with our neighbour. 
Great was the perplexity. It was perfectly impossible to 
distinguish between them, at first, when they were apart; 



2 o THE COMEDY OE ERRORS. 

and we well remember walking some distance with the 
stranger, mistaking him for his brother, and not discover- 
ing the mistake (which he humoured) till we saw his total 
ignorance of the locality. But after seeing this Dromio er- 
raticus a few times the perplexity was at an end. There 
was a difference which was palpable, though not exactly to 
be defined. If the features were alike, their expression was 
somewhat varied; if their figures were the same, the one was 
somewhat more erect than the other; if their voices were 
similar, the one had a different mode of accentuation from 
the other; if they each wore a blue coat with brass buttons, 
the one was decidedly more slovenly than the other in his 
general appearance. If we had known them at all intimate- 
ly, we probably should have ceased to think that the outward 
points of identity were even greater than the points of differ- 
ence. We should have, moreover, learned the difference of 
their characters. It appears to us, then, that as this farce of 
real life was very soon at an end, when we had become a lit- 
tle familiar with the peculiarities in the persons of these twin- 
brothers, so the spectator of the Comedy of E?'rors will very 
soon detect the differences of the Dromios and Antipholuses; 
and that, while his curiosity is kept alive by the effort of at- 
tention which is necessary for this detection, the riddle will 
not only not tease him, but its perpetual solution will afford 
him the utmost satisfaction. 

But has not Shakspere himself furnished a clue to the un- 
derstanding of the Errors, by his marvellous skill in the de- 
lineation of character? Some one has said that if our poet's 
dramas were printed without the names of the persons rep- 
resented being attached to the individual speeches, we should 
know who is speaking by his wonderful discrimination in as- 
signing to every character appropriate modes of thought and 
expression. It appears to us that this is unquestionably the 
case with the characters of each of the twin-brothers in the 
Comedy of Errors. 



INTROD UC TION, 2 1 

The Dromio of Syracuse is described by his master as 

" A trusty villain, sir ; that very oft, 
When I am dull with care and melancholy, 
Lightens my humour with his merry jests." 

But the wandering Antipholus herein describes himself: he 
is a prey to "care and melancholy." He has a holy purpose 
to execute, which he has for years pursued without success : 

" He that commends me to mine own content 
Commends me to the thing I cannot get. 
I to the world am like a drop of water 
That in the ocean seeks another drop." 

Sedate, gentle, loving, the Antipholus of Syracuse is one of 
Shakspere's amiable creations. He beats his slave accord- 
ing to the custom of slave-beating; but he laughs with him 
and is kind to him almost at the same moment. He is an 
enthusiast, for he falls in love with Luciana in the midst of 
his perplexities, and his lips utter some of the most exquisite 
poetry : 

" O, train me not, sweet mermaid, with thy note, 
To drown me in thy sister's flood of tears ; 
Sing, syren, for thyself, and I will dote : 

Spread o'er the silver waves thy golden hairs." 

But he is accustomed to habits of self-command, and he re- 
solves to tear himself away even from the syren: 

" But, lest myself be guilty to self-wrong, 
I '11 stop mine ears against the mermaid's song." 

As his perplexities increase, he ceases to be angry with his 

slave : 

" The fellow is distract and so am I ; 
And here we wander in illusions : 
Some blessed power deliver us from hence." 

Unlike the Menaechmus Sosicles of Plautus, he refuses to 
dine with the courtesan. He is firm yet courageous when 
assaulted by the Merchant. When the errors are clearing 



22 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

up, he modestly adverts to his love for Luciana; and we feel 
that he will be happy. 

Antipholus of Ephesus is decidedly inferior to his brother, 
in the quality of his intellect and the tone of his morals. He 
is scarcely justified in calling his wife " shrewish." Her fault 
is a too sensitive affection for him. Her feelings are most 
beautifully described in that address to her supposed hus- 

" Come, I will fasten on this sleeve of thine : 
Thou art an elm, my husband, I a vine ; 
Whose weakness, married to thy stronger state, 
Makes me with thy strength to communicate : 
If aught possess thee from me, it is dross, 
Usurping ivy, briar, or idle moss." 

The classical image of the elm and the vine would have 
been sufficient to express the feelings of a fond and confid- 
ing woman; the exquisite addition of the 

" Usurping ivy, briar, or idle moss," 

conveys the prevailing uneasiness of a loving and doubting 
wife. Antipholus of Ephesus has somewhat hard measure 
dealt to him throughout the progress of the errors ; but he 
deserves it. His doors are shut against him, it is true; in 
his impatience he would force his way into his house, against 
the remonstrances of the good Balthazar: 

" Your long experience of her wisdom, 
Her sober virtue, years, and modesty, 
Plead on her part some cause to you unknown." 

He departs, but not " in patience ;" he is content to dine 
from home, but not at " the Tiger." His resolve — 

" That chain will I bestow 
(Be it for nothing but to spite my wife) 
Upon mine hostess — 

would not have been made by his brother, in a similar situa- 
tion. He has spited his wife; he has dined with the courte- 
san. But he is not satisfied: 



INTR OD I T C 7 70 A '. 2 3 

"Go thou 
And buy a rope's end ; that will I bestow 
Among my wife and her confederates." 

We pity him not when he is arrested, nor when he receives 
the "rope's end " instead of his "ducats." His furious pas- 
sion with his wife, and the foul names he bestows on her, are 
quite in character; and when he has 

" Beaten the maids a-row, and bound the doctor," 

we cannot have a suspicion that the doctor was practising, 
on the right patient. In a word, we cannot doubt that, al- 
though the Antipholus of Ephesus may be a brave soldier, 
who took "deep scars" to save his prince's life, and that 
he really has a right to consider himself much injured, he 
is strikingly opposed to the Antipholus of Syracuse; that he 
is neither sedate, nor gentle, nor truly loving; that he has 
no habits of self-command ; that his temperament is sensual; 
and that, although the riddle of his perplexity is solved, he 
will still find causes of unhappiness, and entertain 

" a huge infectious troop 
Of pale distemperatures." 

The characters of the two Dromios are not so distinctly 
marked in their points of difference, at the first aspect. 
They each have their " merry jests; 1 ' they each bear a beat- 
ing with wonderful good temper ; they each cling faithfully 
to their master's interests. But there is certainly a marked 
difference in the quality of their mirth. The Dromio of 
Ephesus is precise and antithetical, striving to utter his jests 
with infinite gravity and discretion, and approaching a pun 
with a sly solemnity that is prodigiously diverting: 

" The capon burns, the pig falls from the spit ; 
The clock hath strucken twelve upon the bell ; 
My mistress made it one upon my cheek : 
She is so hot, because the meat is cold." 

Again : 



24 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

" I have some marks of yours upon my pate, 
Some of my mistress' marks upon my shoulders, 
But not a thousand marks between you both." 

He is a formal humourist, and, we have no doubt, spoke with 
a drawling and monotonous accent, fit for his part in such a 
dialogue as this : 

" Antipholus of E. Were not my doors lock'd up, and I shut out? 
Dromio of E. Perdy, your doors were lock'd, and you shut out. 
Antipholus of E. And did not she herself revile me there? 
Dromio of E. Sans fable, she herself revil'd you there. 
Antipholus of E. Did not her kitchen-maid rail, taunt, and scorn me? 
Dromio of E. Certes, she did; the kitchen-vestal scorn'd you." 

On the contrary, the "merry jests" of Dromio of Syra- 
cuse all come from the outpouring of his gladsome heart. 
He is a creature of prodigious animal spirits, running over 
with fun and queer similitudes. He makes not the slightest 
attempt at arranging a joke, but utters what comes upper- 
most with irrepressible volubility. He is an untutored wit; 
and, we have no doubt, gave his tongue as active exercise by 
hurried pronunciation and variable emphasis as could alone 
make his long descriptions endurable by his sensitive mas- 
ter. Look at the dialogue in the second scene of act it., 
where Antipholus, after having repressed his jests, is drawn 
into a tilting-match of words with him, in which the merry 
slave has clearly the victory. Look, again, at his descrip- 
tion of the " kitchen-wench " — coarse, indeed, in parts, but 
altogether irresistibly droll. The twin-brother was quite in- 
capable of such a flood of fun. Again, what a prodigality of 
wit is displayed in his description of the bailiff! His epi- 
thets are inexhaustible. Each of the Dromios is admirable 
in his way; but we think that he of Syracuse is as superior 
to the twin-slave of Ephesus as our old friend Launceis to 
Speed, in the Two Gentlemen cf Verona. These distinctions 
between the Antipholuses and Dromios have not, as far as 
we know, been before pointed out ; but they certainly do ex- 



INTRODUCTION. 



25 



ist, and appear to us to be defined by the great master of 
character with singular force as well as delicacy. Of course 
the characters of the twins could not be violently contrasted, 
for that would have destroyed the illusion. They must still 
" Go hand in hand, not one before another." 

[From Ulricas " Shakspeare's Dramatic Art."*] 
The Comedy of Errors is evidently one of Shakspeare's 
youthful works, and was probably written about 159 1. This 
is supported not only by the frequent occurrence of rhymes 
and the long-drawn Alexandrines (doggerel verse) employ- 
ed by the earlier English dramatists, but also by the greater 
carefulness and regularity of the language and versification. 
. . . Another proof of its early origin is the fresh, youthful 
atmosphere of joke and jest which pervades the whole, a 
naive pleasure in what is jocose and laughable for its own 
sake, and which, not being yet burdened by the weight of 
years, moves more lightly and more on the surface of things, 
and without that power and depth of humour which distin- 
guishes the poet's maturer works. . . . Even the striking 
psychological improbability that the one of the two Me- 
naechmi — Antipholus of Syracuse — should go forth with the 
express purpose of seeking his lost brother, and that, in spite 
of all the obvious mistakes of his identity with another ex- 
actly like himself, it should never occur to him that he is in 
the very place where his twin-brother had been cast — might 
be cited as a proof of the early origin of the piece, were it 
not so gross, so self-evident, that it could not possibly have 
escaped the notice of young Shakspeare. This improbabili- 
ty is accordingly made a characteristic feature of the piece, 
and points to a definite intention on the part of the poet. 
Why, we have to ask, why did Shakspeare intentionally ig- 
nore this improbability? Why did he not give the journey 

* Shakspeare 's Dramatic Art, by Dr. Hermann Ulrici ; translated from 
the third German ed. by L. D. Schmitz (London, 1876), vol. ii. p. 24 fol. 



2 6 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

of Antipholus to Ephesus some other motive ? Perhaps be- 
cause he did not consider it necessary in mere comedy — 
where all is intended for pure fun and laughter — to take 
any heed of things which would only strike and offend mere 
reflecting reason, and not at all affect the poetical concep- 
tion ; perhaps, however, for another and deeper reason. 

If we regard the whole as a whole, as the poetical picture 
of human doings and actions, the comedy appears to be an 
amusing satire on man's power of observation and recogni- 
tion. The accidental resemblance of two pairs of twins suf- 
fices to put almost a whole town into confusion. Life itself 
is conceived, so to say, as a great and many-jointed mistake, 
encountered by ignorance and blunders in all possible forms. 
Hence at the very outset we find the life of the father of the 
two twin-brothers in clanger, owing to an ignorance of the 
Ephesian law — a secondary motive of the action which might 
otherwise appear a mere superfluous appendage. Hence 
Adriana's unreasonable jealousy of her husband, which again 
is but a mistake and gives rise to further mistakes. Hence 
the perpetually increasing complication, which in time de- 
prives all the dramatic characters of their proper conscious- 
ness, and which accordingly is not solved till the two pairs 
of twins stand face to face, although the possibility of two 
such pairs of twins being confounded is sufficiently obvious. 
Under the cloak of the comic we have striking evidence of 
the, in reality, very serious experience in life, that human 
knowledge and human ignorance dovetail into one another 
and are mixed up together; that it is very easy for that 
which we suppose ourselves to know most surely and dis- 
tinctly to turn out erroneous and delusive. The wife mis- 
takes her husband, the master his servant and the servant 
his master, the sister-in-law her brother-in-law, the friend his 
friend, and finally even the father his son. In this way the 
simplest, most natural, and most important relations of life 
become a chaotic complication and dispute. We are shown 



INTR OD UC TIOiV. 2 7 

how quickly every thing becomes confused and perverted as 
soon as one of the laws of life — a perfectly external and ap- 
parently unimportant law — is broken by a freak of nature; 
as soon as but the difference of the outward form — by means 
of which the perception of the senses distinguishes one indi- 
vidual from another — is destroyed. The psychological im- 
probability spoken of above is introduced into this gen- 
eral confusion and complication like an integral part of the 
whole. . . . 

It is scarcely necessary to remind the reader that I do not 
at all wish to maintain that these more philosophical than 
poetical considerations — although in my opinion they are 
not very different — were the directly conscious motives that 
induced the young poet to choose the subject, and that guid- 
ed him in its development. But I do believe that his innate 
appreciation for the beautiful, his fine feeling for unity and 
harmony, or, in other words, that a genial instinct (it may be 
unconsciously) compelled him to make the attempt even to 
outdo Plautus's "Comedy of Errors," by introducing a sec- 
ond and exactly similar pair of twins ; by this means, as well 
as by a number of secondary motives, he was able to carry 
the errors and confusion to the highest possible pitch, and to 
make them affect all the circumstances and relations of life. 
It is only by means of this exaggeration that the subject ob- 
tains that deeper significance already alluded to, and thereby 
a central point which gives unity to the confused variety of 
persons, scenes, relations, and incidents, and which holds all 
the several parts together. Of course, in such a state of 
things, it could not be devoid of improbabilities, devoid of 
strange occurrences and wonderful coincidences. But Shake- 
speare, by the very foundation which he has given to the 
whole — the romantic history of the family ofyEgeon, and the 
distant, foreign locality which he makes the scene of the play 
— has taken care that common reality is removed from our 
sight, and has given us to understand that the question here 



28 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

does not concern this world, but a free, poetical creation, 
the picture of life, so to say, in the mirror of an unbridled 
fancy. It is only in the mirror of fancy that life could ap- 
pear so perfectly dependent upon external form and sensu- 
ous observation ; only within the comic view of life that this 
conception could be right; only when regarded from the one 
point of view, from the comic side, that it could appear sa 
For, true as it is that life is thus dependent, still it is not 
true that life is merely and wholly dependent upon sensuous 
experience ; it is not true that human knowledge is only sen- 
suous, a perception dependent on the eye and ear. The 
one-sidedness of this conception, therefore, contains within 
itself its own corrective; "error "in the end destroys itself, 
and a scene of general recognition brings every thing into 
order and into the right groove. We see that "error" may 
indeed, as it were, momentarily take entire hold of life, but 
must ultimately give way to truth, which eventually not only 
carries off the victory, but also leads us out of the darkness 
of delusion and confusion to where we recover the good 
which had long been missed and sought for in vain. 

[From Charles Cotvden-Clarke's " Shakespeare- Characters." *~\ 
The Comedy of E?'rors is principally derived from the Me- 
ncechmi of Plautus; and Hazlitt says it is "not an improve- 
ment on it." The plot of the original play consists in the 
perplexities occasioned by the two principal characters be- 
ing so like each ether as to defy all discrimination; and to 
this perplexity Shakespeare has added a " confusion worse 
confounded " in giving to each of the brothers Antipholus a 
servant — the two Dromios — equally verisimilar with their 
masters; and in thus heaping improbability upon improb- 
ability he has extended a comedv into a legitimate farce. 

* From the unpublished "Second Series" of the Shakespeare-Char- 
acters (see 2 Hen. IV. p. 18), kindly sent to us by Mrs, Mary Cowden- 
Clarke for publication here. 



INTRODUCTION. . 29 

The reading of the play is like threading the mazes of a 
dream ; where people and things are the same and not the 
same in the same moment. The mistakes, crosses, and vex- 
ations in the plot so rapidly succeed that to keep the course 
of events distinct in the mind is almost as desperate an 
achievement as following all the ramifications of a genea- 
logical tree; and — may it be said?— about as useful. The 
piece, however, is amusing; and although our intellectual re- 
muneration for the time expended is not remarkable, yet we 
should bear in mind that it is essentially a drama of action 
and circumstance ; and if it could be effectually represented, 
the result would be infinitely ludicrous. 

Hazlitt speaks of the "formidable anachronism" commit- 
ted by Shakespeare in introducing Pinch, the schoolmaster 
and conjurer, in Ephesus. It should appear, however, that 
our Poet has offered a greater violence to consistency in 
establishing a convent and a lady abbess under the nose 
of the goddess Diana. Nevertheless, there is an admirably 
characteristic dialogue, and quite in his own manner, be- 
tween the Abbess and Adriana, wife to Antipholus of Ephe- 
sus, in which the shrewd old lady makes the jealous woman 
confess that her own injudicious treatment of her husband's 
vagaries has driven him mad : 

" Abbess. How long hath this possession held the man? 

Adriana. This week he hath been heavy, sour, sad, 
And much different from the man he was ; 
But till this afternoon his passion 
Ne'er brake into extremity of rage. 

Abbess. Hath he not lost much wealth by wrack of sea? 
Buried some dear friend? Hath not else his eye 
Stray'd his affection in unlawful love ? 
A sin prevailing much in youthful men, 
Who give their eyes the liberty of gazing. 
Which of these sorrows is he subject to ? 

Adriana. To none of these, except it be the last; 
Namely, some love that drew him oft from home. 

Abbess. You should for that have reprehended him. 



3 o THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

Adriana. Why, so I did. 

Abbess. Ay, but not rough enough* 

Adriana. As roughly as my modesty would let me. 

Abbess. Haply, in private. 

Adriana. And in assemblies too. 

Abbess. Ay, but not enough. 

Adriana. It was the copy of our conference : , 

In bed he slept not for my urging it ; 
At board he fed not for my urging it ; 
Alone, it was the subject of my theme ; 
In company I often glanced it ; 
Still did I tell him it was vile and bad. 

Abbess. And thereof came it that the man was mad. 
The venom clamours of a jealous woman 
Poisons more deadly than a mad dog's tooth. 
It seems his sleeps were hinder'd by thy railing, 
And thereof comes it that his head is light. 
Thou say'st his meat was sauc'd with thy upbraidings : 
Unquiet meals make ill digestions ; 
Thereof the raging fire of fever bred ; 
And what 's a fever but a fit of madness ? 
Thou say'st his sports were hinder'd by thy brawls : 
Sweet recreation barr'd, what doth ensue 
But moody and dull melancholy, 
Kinsman to grim and comfortless despair, 
And at her heels a huge infectious troop 
Of pale distemperatures and foes to life? 
In food, in sport, and life-preserving rest 
To be disturb'd, would mad or man or beast. 
The consequence is then thy jealous fits 
Have scar'd thy husband from the use of wits." 

Luciana, the sister of Adriana, says in exculpation : 

" She never reprehended him but mildly, 
When he demean'd himself rough, rude, and wildly.— 
Why bear you these rebukes and answer not ? 
Adriana. She did betray me to my own reproof." 

Balthazar, the sober, sedate friend of Antipholus of Ephe- 
sus, is like a first sketch of the staid and serious Antonio, 
the "Merchant of Venice." He commences with a similar 
air of sadness; and the judicious remonstrance which the 



IN TROD UCTIOiY. 



31 



Ephesian merchant addresses to his young friend, bidding 
him have patience and forbearance with his wife's apparent 
caprice, is in the same tone of quiet resignation of character 
which distinguishes the Venetian merchant. 

Pinch (whom we cannot afford to part with for the sake 
of avoiding the anachronism pointed out by Hazlitt — who, 
by the way, was himself too good a judge of excellence seri- 
ously to give up the character on that score) affords a pleas- 
ant instance of Shakespeare's gay exaggeration in humour; 
the high spirits of an author taking shape in his writing, as 
it were. The description of the fellow is capital : 

" Along with them 
They brought one Pinch, a hungry, lean-fac'd villain, 
A mere anatomy, a mountebank, 
A threadbare juggler, and a fortune-teller, 
A needy, hollow-eyed, sharp-looking wretch^ 
A Irving dead man. This pernicious slave, 
Forsooth, took on him as a conjurer ; 
And gazing in mine eyes, feeling my pulse, 
And with no face, as 't were, outfacing me, 
Cries out, I was possess'd." 

That touch of the " no face " sets the man, with his attenuat- 
ed vacant countenance and gloring eyes, palpably before us. 
It forms an interesting examination to observe the way in 
which the two greatest comic dramatic geniuses that ever 
lived — Shakespeare and Moliere — have each treated a simi- 
lar subject. Both writers have taken a comedy of Plautus ; 
a comedy curiously alike in main particular — that of perfect 
resemblance of person in the pairs of heroes. Shakespeare 
took the Roman's comedy where the likeness between the 
twin brothers Menaechmus forms the groundwork; and Mo- 
liere took the play where the precise doubling of the parts 
of Amphytrion and Sosia by Jupiter and Mercury occasions 
the dramatic intrigue. The task of adapting the Latin au- 
thor's humours to English apprehension of drollery, and the 
rendering them appreciable to French taste, has been felici- 



32 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

tously achieved in both instances; and while the fine philo- 
sophic gravity of Shakespeare has thrown that intermixture 
of poetic feeling into the piece with which bis large soul 
could not help investing every thing he touched, by the in- 
troduction of old ^Egeon's opening story and the Lady Ab- 
bess's admonition, Moliere's refined wit has retained his ver- 
sion throughout in the enchanted region of mirth and vi- 
vacity. In Shakespeare's play there is precisely that seri- 
ous charm added which we find in Nature herself through- 
out her works; while in the delightful mercurial - spirited 
Frenchman's play, every scene floats in an atmosphere of 
brilliancy and buoyancy which suits the sportive theme he 
treats. No dramatic writer comes so near to Shakespeare's 
excellence as the great Moliere ; and even he only approaches 
him on one ground — comic humour. But in his wit — in the 
grace and wondrous naturalness of his wit — he vies with the 
Prince of Dramatists. 

A main interest attaching to this play of the Comedy of 
Errors is in the evidence it presents that Shakespeare's 
earlier taste led him to classical ground for subjects. His 
choice of the Venus and Adonis and of the Lucrece as po- 
ems, and his selection of one of Plautus's dramas for the 
plot of this comedy — most probably one of Shakespeare's 
youngest written plays — show his student tendency for Greek 
and Roman themes; a tendency often evinced by youthful 
worshippers of the muse. That the Comedy of Errors is one 
of Shakespeare's less good productions may be accounted for 
by the stiffness and cramp belonging to such a selection of 
dramatic materials; while the skill with which he even then 
worked them together gave early token of his perfection in 
the dramatic art. 




DRAMATIS PERSONAL. 



Solinus, duke of Ephesus. 

./Egeon, a merchant of Syracuse. 

Antipholus of Ephesus, ) twin brothers, and sons of 

Antipholus of Syracuse, J ^Egeon and ^-Emilia. 

Dromio of Ephesus, ) twin brothers, "and attendants 

Dromio of Syracuse, ) on the two Antipholuses. 

Balthazar, a merchant. 

Angelo, a goldsmith. 

First Merchant, friend to Antipholus of Syracuse. 

Second Merchant, to whom Angelo is a debtor. 

Pinch, a schoolmaster. 

^Emilia, wife to ^Egeon. 

Adriana, wife to Antipholus of Ephesus. 

Luciana, her sister. 

Luce, servant to Adriana. 

A Courtesan. 

Gaoler, Officers, and other Attendants. 

Scene : Ephesus. 





SYRACUSE. 



ACT I. 

Scene I. A Hall in the Dukes Palace. 
Enter Duke, ./Egeon, Gaoler, Officers, and other Attendants. 

sEgeon. Proceed, Solinus, to procure my fall, 
And by the doom of death end woes and all. 

Duke. Merchant of Syracusa, plead no more. 
I am not partial to infringe our laws ; 
The enmitv and discord which of late 



„6 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

Sprung from the rancorous outrage of your duke 

To merchants, our well-dealing countrymen, 

Who wanting guilders to redeem their lives 

Have seal'd his rigorous statutes with their bloods, 

Excludes all pity from our threatening looks. 10 

For, since the mortal and intestine jars 

'Twixt thy seditious countrymen and us, 

It hath in solemn synods been decreed, 

Both by the Syracusians and ourselves, 

To admit no traffic to our adverse towns. 

Nay, more, if any born at Kphesus 

Be seen at Syracusian marts and fairs, — 

Again, if any Syracusian born 

Come to the bay of Ephesus, he dies, 

His goods confiscate to the duke's dispose, 20 

Unless a thousand marks be levied, 

To quit the penalty and to ransom him. 

Thy substance, valued at the highest rate, 

Cannot amount unto a hundred marks; 

Therefore by law thou art condemn'd to die. 

sEgeon. Yet this my comfort : when your words are done, 
My woes end likewise with the evening sun. 

Duke. Well, Syracusian, say in brief the cause 
Why thou departedst from thy native home, 
And for what cause thou cam'st to Ephesus. 30 

A?geo?t. A heavier task could not have been impos'd 
Than I to speak my griefs unspeakable ; 
Yet, that the world may witness that my end 
Was wrought by nature, not by vile offence, 
I '11 utter what my sorrow gives me leave. 
In Syracusa was I born, and wed 
Unto a woman, happy but for me, 
And by me too, had not our hap been bad. 
With her I liv'd in joy ; our wealth increas'd 
By prosperous voyages I often made 40 



ACT I. SCENE I. 37 

To Epidamnum, till my factor's death 

And the great care of goods at random left 

Drew me from kind embracements of my spouse; 

From whom my absence was not six months old 

Before herself, almost at fainting under 

The pleasing punishment that women bear, 

Had made provision for her following me, 

And soon and safe arrived where I was. 

There had she not been long but she became 

A joyful mother of two goodly sons; 5c 

And, which was strange, the one so like the other 

As could not be distinguished but by names. 

That very hour and in the self-same inn 

A meaner woman was delivered 

Of such a burden, male twins, both alike. 

Those, for their parents were exceeding poor, 

I bought and brought up to attend my sons. 

My wife, not meanly proud of two such boys, 

Made daily motions for our home return. 

Unwilling I agreed; alas! too soon 60 

We came aboard. 

A league from Epidamnum had we sail'd, 

Before the always-wind-obeying deep 

Gave any tragic instance of our harm : 

But longer did we not retain much hope, 

For what obscured light the heavens did grant 

Did but convey unto our fearful minds 

A doubtful warrant of immediate death ; 

Which though myself would gladly have embrac'd, 

Yet the incessant weepings of my wife, ?° 

Weeping before for what she saw must come, 

And piteous plainings of the pretty babes, 

That mourn'd for fashion, ignorant what to fear, 

Forc'd me to seek delays for them and me. 

And this it was, for other means was none : 



o 3 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

The sailors sought for safety by our boat, 

And left the ship, then sinking-ripe, to us. 

My wife, more careful for the latter-born, 

Had fasten'd him unto a small spare mast, 

Such as seafaring men provide for storms; 80 

To him one of the other twins was bound, 

Whilst I had been like heedful of the other. 

The children thus dispos'd, my wife and I, 

Fixing our eyes on whom our care was fix'd, 

Fasten'd ourselves at either end the mast, 

And floating straight, obedient to the stream, 

Was carried towards Corinth, as we thought. 

At length the sun, gazing upon the earth, 

Dispers'd those vapours that offended us, 

And, by the benefit of his wished light, 9° 

The seas wax'd calm, and we discovered 

Two ships from far making amain to us, 

Of Corinth that, of Epidaurus this; 

But ere they came, — O, let me say no more ! 

Gather the sequel by that went before. 

Duke. Nay, forward, old man ; do not break off so, 
For we may pity, though not pardon thee. 

slEgeon. O, had the gods done so, I had not now 
Worthily term'd them merciless to us ! 

For, ere the ships could meet by twice five leagues, 10c 

We were encounter'd by a mighty rock, 
Which being violently borne upon, 
Our helpful ship was splitted in the midst; 
So that, in this unjust divorce of us, 
Fortune had left to both of us alike 
What to delight in, what to sorrow for. 
Her part, poor soul! seeming as burdened 
With lesser weight but not with lesser woe, 
Was carried with more speed before the wind; 
And in our sight they three were taken up no 



ACT I. SCENE I. 39 

By fishermen of Corinth, as we thought. 

At length, another ship had seiz'd on us; 

And, knowing whom it was their hap to save, 

Gave healthful welcome to their shipwrack'd guests, 

And would have reft the fishers of their prey, 

Had not their bark been very slow of sail ; 

And therefore homeward did they bend their course. — 

Thus have you heard me sever'd from my bliss, 

That by misfortunes was my life prolong'd, 

To tell sad stories of my own mishaps. 120 

Duke. And, for the sake of them thou sorrowest for, 
Do me the favour to dilate at full 
What hath befallen of them and thee till now. 

ALgeo?!. My youngest boy, and yet my eldest care, 
At eighteen years became inquisitive 
After his brother, and importun'd me 
That his attendant — for his case was like, 
Reft of his brother, but retain'd his name — 
Might bear him company in the quest of him ; 
Whom whilst I labourd of a love to see, • 13c 

I hazarded the loss of whom I lov'd. 
Five summers have I spent in furthest Greece, 
Roaming clean through the bounds of Asia, 
And, coasting homeward, came to Ephesus ; 
Hopeless to find, yet loath to leave unsought 
Or that or any place that harbours men. 
But here must end the story of my life ; 
And happy were I in my timely death, 
Could all my travels warrant me they live. 

Duke. Hapless ^Egeon, whom the fates have mark'd 140 
To bear the extremity of dire mishap ! 
Now, trust me, were it not against our laws, 
Against my crown, my oath, my dignity, 
Which princes, would they, may not disannul. 
My soul should sue as advocate for thee. 



4 o THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

But, though thou art adjudged to the death, 

And passed sentence may not be recall'd 

But to our honour's great disparagement, 

Yet I will favour thee in what I can. 

Therefore, merchant, I '11 limit thee this day 150 

To seek thy help by beneficial help. 

Try all the friends, thou hast in Ephesus; 

Beg thou, or borrow, to make up the sum, 

And live: if no, then thou art doom'd to die. — 

Gaoler, take him to thy custody. 

Gaoler. I will, my lord. 

sEgeon. Hopeless and helpless doth ^Egeon wend, 
But to procrastinate his lifeless end. [Exeunt. 

Scene II. The Mart. 

Enter Antipholus of Syracuse, Dromio of Syracuse, 
and First Merchant. 

i Merchant. Therefore give out you are of Epidamnum, 
Lest that your goods too soon be confiscate. 
This very day a Syracusian merchant 
Is apprehended for arrival here, 
And not being able to buy out his life, 
According to the statute of the town, 
Dies ere the weary sun set in the west. 
There is your money that I had to keep. 

Antipholus of S. Go bear it to the Centaur, where we 
host, 
And stay there, Dromio, till I come to thee. 10 

Within this hour it will be dinner-time; 
Till that, I '11 view the manners of the town, 
Peruse the traders, gaze u.pon the buildings, 
And then return and sleep within mine inn, 
For with long travel I am stiff and weary. 
Get thee away. 



ACT I. SCENE II. 



41 



Dr.omio of S. Many a man would take you at your word, 
And go indeed, having so good a mean. [Exit. 

Antipholus of S. A trusty villain, sir, that very oft, 
When I am dull with care and melancholy, 20 

Lightens my humour with his merry jests. 
What, will you walk with me about the town, 
And then go to my inn and dine with me ? 

1 Merchant. I am invited, sir, to certain merchants, 
Of whom I hope to make much benefit; 
I crave your pardon. Soon at five o'clock, 
Please you, I '11 meet with you upon the mart, 
And afterward consort you till bed-time; 
My present business calls me from you now. 

Antipholus of S. Farewell till then; I will go lose myself 
And wander up and down to view the city. 31 

1 Merchant. Sir, I commend you to your own content. 

[Exit, 

Antipholus of S. He that commends me to mine own con- 
tent 
Commends me to the thing I cannot get. 
I to the world am like a drop of water 
That in the ocean seeks another drop, 
Who, falling there to find his fellow forth, 
Unseen, inquisitive, confounds himself; 
So I, to find a mother and a brother, 
In quest of them, unhappy, lose myself. 4* 

Enter Dromio of Ephesus. 

Here comes the almanac of my true date. — 
What now? how chance thou art retur-n'd so soon? 

Dromio of E. Return'd so soon ! rather approach'd too late- 
The capon burns, the pig falls from the spit, 
The. clock hath strucken twelve upon the bell; 
My mistress made it one upon my cheek. 
She is so hot because the meat is cold ; 



4 2 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

The meat is cold because you come not home ; 

You come not home because you have no stomach; 

You have no stomach having broke your fast ; 50 

But we that know what 't is to fast and pray 

Are penitent for your default to-day. 

Antipholus of S. Stop in your wind, sir. Tell me this, I pray : 
Where have you left the money that I gave you ? 

Dromio of E, O ! — sixpence, that I had o' Wednesday last 
To pay the saddler for my mistress' crupper ? 
The saddler had it, sir; I kept it not. 

Antipholus of S. I am not in a sportive humour now; 
Tell me, and dally not, where is the money? 
We being strangers here, how dar'st thou trust 60 

So great a charge from thine own custody? 

Dromio of E. I pray you, jest, sir, as you sit at dinner. 
I from my mistress come to you in post ; 
If I return, I shall be post indeed, 
For she will score your fault upon my pate. 
Methinks your maw, like mine, should be your clock, 
And strike you home without a messenger. 

Antipholus of S. Come, Dromio, come, these jests are out 
of season ; 
Reserve them till a merrier hour than this. 
Where is the gold I gave in charge to thee ? 70 

Dromio of E. To me, sir? why, you gave no gold to me. 

Antipholus of S. Come on, sir knave, have done your fool- 
ishness, 
And tell me how thou hast dispos'd thy charge. 

Dromio of E. My charge was but to fetch you from the 
mart 
Home to your house, the Phcenix, sir, to dinner; 
My mistress and her sister stays for you. 

Antipholus of S. Now, as I am a Christian, answer me 
In what safe place you have bestow'd my money, 
Or I shall break that merrv sconce of vours 



ACT I. SCENE II. 



43 



That stands on tricks when I am undispos'd. So 

Where is the thousand marks thou hadst of me ? 

Dromio of E. I have some marks of yours -upon my pate, 
Some of my mistress' marks upon my shoulders, 
But not a thousand marks between you both. 
If I should pay your worship those again, 
Perchance you will not bear them patiently. 

Antipholus of S. Thy mistress' marks? what mistress, slave, 
hast thou ? 

Dromio of E. Your worship's wife, my mistress at the 
Phoenix; 
She that doth fast till you come home to dinner, 
And prays that you will hie you home to dinner. 90 

Antipholus of S. What, wilt thou flout me thus unto my face, 
Being forbid ? There, take you that, sir knave. 

Dromio of E. What mean you, sir? for God's sake, hold 
your hands ! 
Nay, an you will not, sir, I '11 take my heels. [Exit. 

Antipholus of S. Upon my life, by some device or other 
The villain is o'er-raught of all my money. 
They say this town is full of cozenage, 
As, nimble jugglers that deceive the eye, 
Dark-working sorcerers that change the mind. 
Soul-killing witches that deform the body, 100 

Disguised cheaters, prating mountebanks, 
And many such-like liberties of sin ; 
If it prove so, I will be gone the sooner. 
I '11 to the Centaur, to go seek this slave; 
I greatly fear my money is not safe. [Exit. 




REMAINS OF GATE AT EPHESUS. 



ACT II. 

Scene I. The House of Antipholus of Ephesus. 
Enter Adriana and Luciana. 

Adriana. Neither my husband nor the slave return'd, 
That in such haste I sent to seek his master! 
Sure, Luciana, it is. two o'clock. 

Luciana. Perhaps some merchant hath invited him, 
And from the mart he 's somewhere gone to dinner. 
Good sister, let us dine and never fret. 
A man is master of his liberty; 
Time is their master, and when they see time 
They'll go or come : if so, be patient, sister. 

Adriana. Why should their liberty than ours be more? 

Luciana. Because their business still lies out o' door. 

Adriana. Look, when I serve him so, he takes it ill. 



ACT II. SCENE I. 45 

Luciana. O, know he is the bridle of your will. 

Adriana. There 's none but asses will be bridled so. 

Luciana. Why, headstrong liberty is lash'd with woe. 
There 's nothing situate under heaven's eye 
But hath his bound, in earth, in sea, in sky. 
The beasts, the fishes, and the winged fowls 
Are their males' subjects and at their controls; 
Men, more divine, the masters of all these, 20 

Lords of the wide world and wild watery seas, 
Indued with intellectual sense and souls, 
Of more pre-eminence than fish and fowls, 
Are masters to their females, and their lords : 
Then let your will attend on their accords. 

Adriana. This servitude makes you to keep unwed. 

Luciana. Not this, but troubles of the marriage-bed. 

Adriana. But, were you wedded, you would bear some 
sway. 

Luciana. Ere I learn love, I '11 practise to obey. 

Adriana. How if your husband start some other where? 

Luciana. Till he come home again, I would forbear. 31 

Adriana. Patience unmov'd ! no marvel though she pause; 
They can be meek that have no other cause. 
A wretched soul, bruis'd with adversity, 
We bid be quiet when we hear it cry; 
But were we burden'd with like weight of pain, 
As much or more we should ourselves complain : 
So thou, that hast no unkind mate to grieve thee, 
With urging helpless patience wouldst relieve me; 
But, if thou live to see like right bereft, 40 

This fool-begg'd patience in thee will be left. 

Luciana. Well, I will marry one clay, but to try. 
Here comes your man ; now is your husband nigh. 

Enter Dromio of Ephesus. 
Adriana. Say, is your tardy master now at hand ? 



46 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

Dromio of E. Nay, he 's at two hands with me, and that 
my two ears can witness. 

Adriana. Say, didst thou speak with him ? know'st thou 
his mind ? 

Dromio of E. Ay, ay, he told his mind upon mine ear. 
Beshrew his hand, I scarce could understand it. 49 

Luciana. Spake he so doubtfully, thou couldst hot feel his 
meaning ? 

Dromio of E. Nay, he struck so plainly, I could too well 
feel his blows; and withal so doubtfully that I could scarce 
understand them. 

Adriana. But say, I prithee, is he coming home ? 
It seems he hath great care to please his wife. 

Dromio of E. Why, mistress, sure my master is horn-mad. 

Adriana. Horn-mad, thou villain 1 

Dromio of E. I mean not cuckold-mad; 

But, sure, he is stark mad. 

When I desir'd him to come home to dinner, 60 

He ask'd me for a thousand marks in gold : 
"T is dinner-time,' quoth I; ' My gold !' quoth he : 
' Your meat doth burn,' quoth I ; ' My gold !' quoth he: 
* Will you come home ?' quoth I ; ' My gold !' quoth he, 
'Where is the thousand marks I gave thee, villain?' 
' The pig,' quoth I, ' is burn'd ;' ' My gold !' quoth he : 
' My mistress, sir,' quoth I ; ' Hang up thy mistress ! 
I know not thy mistress ; out on thy mistress!' 

Luciana. Quoth who ? 

Dromio of E. Quoth my master: 70 

' I know,' quoth he, ' no house, no wife, no mistress.' 
So that my errand, due unto my tongue, 
I thank him, I bare home upon my shoulders; 
For, in conclusion, he did beat me there. 

Adriana. Go back again, thou slave, and fetch him home. 

Dromio of E. Go back again, and be new beaten home? 
For God's sake, send some other messenger. 



ACT II. SCENE L 



47 



Adriana. Back, slave, or I will break thy pate across. 

Dromio of E. And he will bless that cross with other beat- 
ing. 
Between you I shall have a holy head. So 

Adriana. Hence, prating peasant ! fetch thy master home. 
■ Dromio of E. Am I so round with you as you with me, 
That like a football you do spurn me thus ? 
You spurn me hence, and he will spurn me hither; 
If I last in this service, you must case me in leather. [Exit. 

Luciana. Fie, how impatience lowereth in your face ! 

Adriana. His company must do his minions grace, 
Whilst I at home starve for a merry look. 
Hath homely age the alluring beauty took 
From my poor cheek ? then he hath wasted it. 90 

Are my discourses dull? barren my wit? 
If voluble and sharp discourse be marr'd, 
Unkindness blunts it more than marble hard. 
Do their gay vestments his affections bait ? 
That 's not my fault; he 's master of my state. 
What ruins are in me that can be found, 
By him not ruin'd ? then is he the ground 
Of my defeatures. My decayed fair 
A sunny look of his would soon repair: 
But, too unruly deer, he breaks the pale 100 

And feeds from home ; poor I am but his stale. 

Luciana. Self-harming jealousy ! fie, beat it hence ! 

Adriana. Unfeeling fools can with such wrongs dispense. 
I know his eye doth homage other where, 
Or else what lets it but he would be here ? 
Sister, you know he promis'd me a chain ; 
Would that alone, alone he would detain, 
So he would keep fair quarter with his bed ! 
I see the jewel best enamelled 

Will lose his beauty ; and though gold bides still no 

That others touch, yet often touching will 



4.8 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

Wear gold : and so a man that hath a name, 
By falsehood and corruption doth it shame. 
Since that my beauty cannot please his eye, 
I '11 weep what 's left away, and weeping die. 

Luciana. How many fond fools serve mad jealousy ! 

[Exeunt 

Scene II. A Public Place. 

Enter Antipholus of Syracuse. 

Antipholus of S. The gold I gave to Dromio is laid up 
Safe at the Centaur; and the heedful slave 
Is wander'd forth, in care to seek me out. 
By computation and mine host's report, 
I could not speak with Dromio since at first 
I sent him from the mart. See, here he comes. — 

Enter Dromio of Syracuse. 

How now, sir ! is your merry humour alter'd? 

As you love strokes, so jest with me again. 

You know no Centaur? you receiv'd no gold? 

Your mistress sent to have me home to dinner? 10 

My house was at the Phcenix? Wast thou mad, 

That thus so madly thou didst answer me? 

Dromio oj S. What answer, sir ? when spake I such a word ? 

Antipholus of S. Even now, even here, not half an hour since. 

Dromio of S. I did not see you since you sent me hence, 
Home to the Centaur, with the gold you gave me. 

A?itipholus of S. Villain, thou didst deny the gold's receipt, 
And told'st me of a mistress and a dinner; 
For which, I hope, thou felt'st I was displeas'd. 

Dromio of S. I am glad to see you in this merry vein ; 20 
What means this jest ? I pray you, master, tell me. 

Antipholus of S. Yea, dost thou jeer and flout me in the teeth? 
Think'st thou I jest? Hold, take thou that, and that. 

[Beating him. 



ACT II. SCENE II. 49 

Dromio of S. Hold, sir, for God's .sake ! now your jest is 
earnest. 
Upon what bargain do you give it me ? 

Antipholus of S. Because that I familiarly sometimes 
Do use you for my fool and chat with you, 
Your sauciness will jest upon my love 
And make a common of my serious hours. 
When the sun shines let foolish gnats make sport, 30 

But creep in crannies when he hides his beams. 
If you will jest with me, know my aspect 
And fashion your demeanour to my looks, 
Or I will beat this method in your sconce. 

Dromio of S. Sconce call you it? so you would leave bat- 
tering, I had rather have it a head. An you use these blows 
long, I must get a sconce for my head and insconce it too • 
or else I shall seek my wit in my shoulders. But, I pray, 
sir, why am I beaten ? 

Antipholus of S. Dost thou not know ? 40 

Dromio of S. Nothing, sir, but that I am beaten. 
. Antipholus of S. Shall I tell you why? 

Dromio of S. Ay, sir, and wherefore; for they say every 
why hath a wherefore. 

Antipholus of S. Why, first, — for flouting me \ and then, 
wherefore,-^- 
For urging it the second time to me. 

Dromio of S. Was there ever any man thus beaten out of 
season, 
When in the why and the wherefore is neither rhyme nor. 

reason ? 
Well, sir, I thank you. 

Antipholus of S. Thank me, sir! for what? 50 

Dromio of S. Marry, sir, for this something that you gave 
me for nothing. 

Antipholus of S. I'll make you amends next, to give you 
nothing for something. But say, sir, is it dinner-time? 

D ' 



5 o THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

Dromio of S. No, sir; I think the meat wants that I have. 

Antipholus of S. In good time, sir; what 's that? 

Dromio of S. Basting. 

Antipholus, of S. Well, sir, then 't will be dry. 

Dro?nio of S. If it be, sir, I pray you, eat none of it. 

Antipholus of S. Your reason ? 6c 

Dromio of S. Lest it make you choleric, and purchase me 
another dry basting. 

Antipholus ofS. Well, sir, learn to jest in good time ; there 's 
a time for all things. 

Dromio of S. I durst have denied that, before you were 
so choleric. 

Antipholus of S. By what rule, sir ? 

Dromio of S. Marry, sir, by a rule as plain as the plain 
bald pate of father Time himself. 

Antipholus of S. Let 's hear it. 70 

Dromio of S. There 's no time for a man to recover his 
hair that grows bald by nature. 

Antipholus of S. May he not do it by fine and recovery? 

Dromio of S. Yes, to pay a fine for a periwig, and recover 
the lost hair of another man. 

Antipholus of S. Why is Time such a niggard of hair, be- 
ing, as it is, so plentiful an excrement? 

Dromio of S. Because it is a blessing that he bestows on 
beasts; and what he hath scanted men in hair he hath given 
them in wit. 80 

Antipholus of S. Why, but there 's many a man hath more 
hair than wit. 

Dromio of S. Not a man of those but he hath the wit to 
lose his hair. 

Antipholus of S. Why, thou didst conclude hairy men plain 
dealers without wit. 

Dromio of S. The plainer dealer, the sooner lost: yet he 
loseth it in a kind of jollity. 

Aiitipholus of S. For what reason ? 



ACT II SCENE II 



5* 



Dromio of S. For two; and sound ones too. go 

Antipholus of S. . Nay, not sound, I pray you. 

Dromio of S. Sure ones then. 

Antipholus of S. Nay, not sure, in a thing falsing. 

Dromio of S. Certain ones then. 

Antipholus of S. Name them. 

Dromio of S. The one, to save the money that he spends 
in trimming; the other, that at dinner they should not drop 
in his porridge. 

Antipholus of S. You would all this time have proved there 
is no time for all things. 100 

Dromio of S. Marry, and did, sir; namely, no time to re- 
cover hair lost by nature. 

Antipholus of S. But your reason was not substantial, why 
there is no time to recover. 

Dromio of S. Thus I mend it: Time himself is bald, and 
therefore to the world's end will have bald followers. 

Antipholus of S. I knew 't would be a bald conclusion. — 
But, soft ! who wafts us yonder? 

Enter Adriana and Luciana. 

Adriana. Ay, ay, Antipholus, look strange and frown : 
Some other mistress hath thy sweet aspects; no 

I am not Adriana nor thy wife. 
The time was once when thou unurg'd wouldst vow 
That never words were music to thine ear, 
That never object pleasing in thine eye, 
That never touch well welcome to thy hand, 
That never meat sweet-savour'd in thy taste, 
Unless I spake, or look'd, or touch'd, or carv'd to thee. 
How comes it now, my husband, O, how comes it. 
That thou art thus estranged from thyself? 
Thyself I call it, being strange to me, "° 

That, undividable, incorporate, 
Am better than thy dear self's better part. 



ej 2 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

Ah, do not tear away thyself from me ! 

For know, my love, as easy mayst thou fall 

A drop of water in the breaking gulf, 

And take unmingled thence that drop again, 

Without addition or diminishing, 

As take from me thyself and not me too. 

How dearly would it touch thee to the quick, 

Shouldst thou but hear I were licentious, 13 ° 

And that this body, consecrate to thee, 

By ruffian lust should be contaminate ! 

Wouldst thou not spit at me and spurn at me, 

And hurl the name of husband in my face, 

And tear the stain'd skin off my harlot-brow, 

And from my false hand cut the wedding-ring, 

And break it with a deep-divorcing vow? 

I know thou canst; and therefore see thou do it. 

I am possess'd with an adulterate blot ; 

My blood is mingled with the crime of lust: 14° 

For if we two be one and thou play false, 

I do digest the poison of thy flesh. 

Being strumpeted by thy contagion. 

Keep then fair league and truce with thy true bed ; 

I live unstain'd, thou undishonoured. 

Antipholns of S. Plead you to me, fair dame? I know 
you not. 
In Ephesus I am but two hours old, 
As strange unto your town as to your talk; 
Who, every word by all my wit being scann'd, 
Want wit in all one word to understand. 150 

Luciana. Fie, brother ! how the world is chang'd with you ! 
When were you wont to use my sister thus ? 
She sent for you by Dromio home to dinner. 

Antipholus of S. By Dromio? 

Dromio of S. By me ? 

Adriana. By thee ; and this thou didst return from him, — 



ACT If. SCENE II. 53 

That he did buffet thee, and in his blows 
Denied my house for his, me for his wife. 

Antipholus of S. Did you converse, sir, with this gentle- 
woman ? 
What is the course and drift of your compact ? ( 6o 

Dro?nio of S. I, sir? I never saw her till this time. 

Antipholus of S. Villain, thou liest ; for even her very 
words 
Didst thou deliver to me on the mart. 

Dromio of S, I never spake with her in all my life. 

Antipholus of S. How can she thus then call us by our 
names, 
Unless it be by inspiration. 

Adriana. How ill agrees it with your gravity 
To counterfeit thus grossly with your slave, 
Abetting him to thwart me in my mood ! 
Be it my wrong you are from me exempt, lJO 

But wrong not that wrong with a more contempt. 
Come, I will fasten on .this sleeve of thine; 
Thou art an elm, my husband, I a vine, 
Whose weakness married to thy stronger state 
Makes me with thy strength to communicate. 
If aught possess thee from me, it is dross, 
Usurping ivy, brier, or idle moss ; 
Who, all for want of pruning, with intrusion 
Infect thy sap and live on thy confusion. 

Antipholus of S. Tome she speaks; she moves me for her 
theme ! Q 

180 

What, was I married to her in my dream ? 
Or sleep I now, and think I hear all this? 
What error drives our eyes and ears amiss? 
Until I know this sure uncertainty, 
I '11 entertain the offer'd fallacy. 

Luciana. Dromio, go bid the servants spread for dinner. 

Dromio of S. O, for my beads ! I cross me for a sinner 



54 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

This is the fairy land: O spite of spites ! 

We talk with goblins, owls, and sprites: 

If we obey them not, this will ensue, — 190 

They '11 suck our breath or pinch us black and blue. 

Luciana. Why prat'st thou to thyself and answer'st not? 
Dromio, thou drone, thou snail, thou slug, thou sot ! 

Dromio of S. I am transformed, master, am I not? 

Antipholas of S. I think thou art in mind, and so am I. 

Dromio of S. Nay, master, both in mind and in my shape. 

Antipholus of S. Thou hast thine own form. 

Dro?nio of S. No, I am an ape. 

Luciana. If thou art chang'd to aught, 't is to an ass. 

Dromio of S. 'T is true ; she rides me and I long for grass. 
'T is so, I am an ass ; else it could never be 200 

But I should know her as well as she knows me. 

Adriana. Come, come, no longer will I be a fool, 
To put the finger in the eye and weep, 
Whilst man and master laughs my woes to scorn. 
Come, sir, to dinner. — Dromio, keep the gate. — 
Husband, I '11 dine above with you to-day, 
And shrive you of a thousand idle pranks. — 
Sirrah, if any ask you for your master, 
Say he dines forth and let no creature enter. — 
Come, sister. — Dromio, play the porter well. 210 

Antipholus of S. Am I in earth, in heaven, or in hell? 
Sleeping or waking? mad or well-advis'd? 
Known unto these, and to myself disguis'd ! 
I '11 say as they say and persever so, 
And in this mist at all adventures go. 

Dromio of S. Master, shall I be porter at the gate ? 

Adriana. Ay; and let none enter, lest I break your pate. 

Luciana. Come, come, Antipholus, we dine too late. 

[Exeunt 





KUJNS OF AQUEDUCT AT EPHESUS. 



ACT III. 

Scene I. Before the House of Antiphohts of Ephesus. 

Enter Antipholus of Ephesus, Dromio of Ephesus, An- 
gelo, and Balthazar. 

Antipholus of E. Good Signior Angelo, you must excuse 
us all ; 
My wife is shrewish when I keep not hours. 
Say that I linger'd with you at your shop 
To see the making of her carcanet, 
And that to-morrow you will bring it home. 
But here's a villain that would face me down 
He met me on the mart, and that I beat him 
And charg'd him with a thousand marks in gold, 
And that I did deny my wife and house. — 
Thou drunkard, thou, what didst thou mean by this ? k 

Dromio of E. Say what you will, sir, but I know what I 
know; 
That you beat me at the mart, I have your hand to show. 



5 6 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

If the skin were parchment and the blows you gave were ink, 
Your own handwriting would tell you what I think. 
Antipholus of E. I think thou art an ass. 
Dromio of E. Marry, so it doth appear 

By the wrongs I suffer and the blows I bear. 
I should kick, being kick'd ; and, being at that pass, 
You would keep from my heels and beware of an ass. 

Antipholus of E. You 're sad> Signior Balthazar; pray Gocl 
our cheer 
May answer my good will and your good welcome here. 20 
Balthazar. I hold your dainties cheap, sir, and your wel- 
come dear. 
Antipholus of E. O, Signior Balthazar, either at flesh or fish, 
A table full of welcome makes scarce one dainty dish. _ — 
Balthazar. Good meat, sir, is common ; that every churl 

affords. 
Antipholus of E. And welcome more common ; for that 's 

nothing but words. 
Balthazar. Small cheer and great welcome makes a merry 

feast. 
Antipholus of E. Ay, to a niggardly host and more sparing 
guest. 
But though my cates be mean, take them in good part ; 
Better cheer may you have, but not with better heart. 
But, soft ! my door is lock'd. — Go bid them let us in. 30 

Dromio of E. Maud, Bridget, Marian, Cicely, Gillian, 

Ginn ! 
Dromio of S. [ Within] Mome, malt - horse, capon, cox- 
comb, idiot, patch ! 
Either get thee from the door or sit down at the hatch. 
Dost thou conjure for wenches, that thou calPst for such 

store, 
When one is one too many ? Go get thee from the door. 
Dromio of E. What patch is made our porter? My mas- 
ter stays in the street. 



ACT III. SCENE L 57 

Dromio of S.[ Within] Let him walk from whence he 

came, lest he catch cold on 's feet. 
Antipholus of E. Who talks within there? ho, open the 

door ! 
Dromio of S. [ Within] Right, sir ; I '11 tell you when, an 

you '11 tell me wherefore. 
Antipholus of E. Wherefore? for my dinner ; I have not 

din'd to-day. 4 o 

Dromio of S. [ Within] Nor to-day here you must not ; 

come again when you may. 
Antipholus of E. What art thou that keep'st me out from 

the house I owe ? 
Dromio of S. [Within] The porter for this time, sir, and 

my name is Dromio. 
Dromio ofE.O villain! thou hast stolen both mine of- 
fice and my name. 
The one ne'er got me credit, the other mickle blame. 
If thou hadst been Dromio to-day in my place, 
Thou wouldst have chang'd thy face for a name or thy name 

for an ass. 
Luce. [ JVithin] What a coil is there, Dromio ? who are 

those at the gate? 
Dromio of E. Let my master in, Luce. 
Luce. [Within] Faith, no! he comes too late; 

And so tell your master. 

Dromio of E. O Lord, I must laugh ! S o 

Have at you with a proverb — Shall I set in my staff? 

Luce. [Within] Have at you with another; that 's — 

When ? can you tell ? _ 
Dromio of S. [ Within] If thy name be call'd Luce, — 

Luce, thou hast answer'd him well. 
Antipholus of E. Do you hear, you minion ? you 'll let us 

in, I hope ? 
Luce. [ Within] I thought to have ask'd you. 
Dromio of S. [Within] And you said no. 



58 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

Dromio of E. So, come, help ! well struck ! there was blow 

for blow. 
Antipholus of E. Thou baggage, let me in. 
Luce. [ Withhi\ Can you tell for whose sake ? 

Dromio of E. Master, knock the door hard. 
Luce. [ Within'] Let him knock till it ache. 

Antipholus of E. You '11 cry for this, minion, if L beat the 

door down. 
Luce. [Within] What needs all that, and a pair of stocks 

in the town ? 60 

Adriana. [ Within] Who is that at the door that keeps all 

this noise ? 
Dromio of S. [ Within] By my troth, your town is troubled 

with unruly boys. 
Antipholus of E. Are you there, wife ? you might have 

come before. 
Adriana. [ Within] Your wife, sir knave ! go get you from 

the door. 
Dromio of E. If you went in pain, master, this knave would 

go sore. 
Angelo. Here is neither cheer, sir, nor welcome; we would 

fain have either. 
Balthazar. In debating which was best, we shall part with_ 

neither. 
Dromio of E. They stand at the door, master; bid them 

welcome hither. 
Antipholus of E. There is something in the wind, that we 

cannot get in. 
Dromio of E. You would say so, master, if your garments 

were thin. 7 o 

Your cake is warm within ; you stand here in the cold : 
It would make a man mad as a buck, to be so bought and 

sold. 
Antipholus of E. Go fetch me something; I '11 break ope 

the gate. 



ACT III. SCENE I. 



59 



Dromio of S. [Within] Break any breaking here, and I '11 

break your knave's pate. 
Dromio of E. A man may break a word with you, sir, and 

words are but wind. 
Dromio of S. [ Within~\ It seems thou want'st breaking ; 

out upon thee, hind ! 
Drotnio of E. Here 's too much out upon thee! I pray 

thee, let me in. 
Dromio of S. [ Withiii\ Ay, when fowls have no feathers 

and fish have no fin. 
Antipholus of E. Well, I 'll break in; go borrow me a 

crow. 
Dromio of E. A crow without feather ? Master, mean 
you so ? • 80 

For a fish without a fin, there 's a fowl without a feather; 
If a crow help us in, sirrah, we 'll pluck a crow together. 
Antipholus of E. Go get thee gone; fetch me an iron 

crow. 
Balthazar. Have patience, sir ; O, let it not be so ! 
Herein you war against your reputation, 
And draw within the compass of suspect 
The unviolated honour of your wife. 
Once this, — your long experience of her wisdom, 
Her sober virtue, years, and modesty, 

Plead on her part some cause to you unknown ; 90 

And doubt not, sir, but she will well excuse 
Why at this time the doors are made against you. 
Be rul'd by me : depart in patience, 
And let us to the Tiger all to dinner; 
And about evening come yourself alone 
To know the reason of this strange restraint. 
If by strong hand you offer to break in 
Now in the stirring passage of the day, 
A vulgar comment will be made of it, 
And that supposed by the common rout 100 



60 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

Against your yet ungalled estimation, 

That may with foul intrusion enter in, 

And dwell upon your grave when you are dead; 

For slander lives upon succession, 

For ever hous'd where it gets possession. 

Antipholus of E. You have prevail'd ; I will depart in 
quiet, 
And, in despite of mirth, mean to be merry. 
I know a wench of excellent discourse, 
Pretty and witty, wild and yet, too, gentle; 
There will we dine. This woman that I mean, no 

My wife — but, I protest, without desert — 
Hath oftentimes upbraided me withal ; 
To her will we to dinner. — [To Angelo\ Get you home 
And fetch the chain ; by this I know 't is made. 
Bring it, I pray you, to the Porpentine ; 
For there 's the house. That chain will I bestow — 
Be it for nothing but to spite my wife — 
Upon mine hostess there. Good sir, make haste. 
Since mine own doors refuse to entertain me, 
I '11 knock elsewhere, to see if they '11 disdain me. 120 

Angelo. I '11 meet you at that place some hour hence. 

Antipholus of E. Do so. This jest shall cost me some ex- 
pense. [Exeunt. 

Scene II. The Same. 
Enter Luciana and Antipholus of Syracuse. 

Luciana. And may it be that you have quite forgot 

A husband's office? shall, Antipholus, 
Even in the spring of love, thy love-springs rot? 

Shall love, in building, grow so ruinous? 
If you did wed my sister for her wealth, 

Then for her wealth's sake use her with more kindness: 
Or if you like elsewhere, do it by stealth; 

Muffle your false love with some show of blindness. 



ACT III. SCENE II. 6 1 

Let not my sister read it in your eye • 

Be not thy tongue thy own shame's orator ; 10 

Look sweet, speak fair, become disloyalty; 

Apparel vice like virtue's harbinger; 
Bear a fair presence, though your heart be tainted; 

Teach sin the carriage of a holy saint; 
Be secret-false: what need she be acquainted ? 

What simple thief brags of his own attaint? 
'T is double wrong, to truant with your bed, 

And let her read it in thy looks at board : 
Shame hath a bastard fame, well managed ; 

111 deeds are doubled with an evil word. 20 

Alas, poor women ! make us but believe, 

Being compact of credit, that you love us; 
Though others have the arm, show us the sleeve; 

We in your motion turn, and you may move us. 
Then, gentle brother, get you in again ; 

Comfort my sister, cheer her, call her wife: 
'T is holy sport to be a little vain, 

When the sweet breath of flattery conquers strife. 

Antipholus of S. Sweet mistress,— what your name is else, 
I know not, 

Nor by what wonder you do hit of mine,— *o 

Less in your knowledge and your grace you show not 

Than our earth's wonder, more than earth divine. 
Teach me, dear creature, how to think and speak; 

Lay open to my earthy-gross conceit, 
Smother'd in errors, feeble, shallow, weak, 

The folded meaning of your words' deceit. 
Against my soul's pure truth why labour you 

To make it wander in an unknown field ? 
Are you a god? would you create me new? 

Transform me then, and to your power I '11 yield. 40 

But if that I am I, then well I know 

Your weeping sister is no wife of mine, 



62 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

Nor to her bed no homage do I owe; 

Far more, far more to you do I decline. 
O, train me not, sweet^mermaid, with thy note, 

To drown me in thy sister's flood of tears. 
Sing, siren, for thyself and I will dote; 

Spread o'er the silver waves thy golden hairs, 
And as a bed I '11 take them and there lie, 

And in that glorious supposition think 50 

He gains by death that hath such means to die : 

Let Love, being light, be drowned if she sink ! 

Luciana. What, are you mad, that you do reason so ? 

Atitipholus of S. Not mad, but mated ; how, I do not know. 

Luciana. It is a fault that springeth from your eye. 

Atitipholus of S. For gazing on your beams, fair sun, be- 
ing by. 

Luciana. Gaze where you should, and that will clear your 
sight. 

Antipholus of S. As good to wink, sweet love, as look on 
night. 

Luciana. Why call you me love ? call my sister so. 

Antipholus of S. Thy sister's sister. 

Luciana. That 's my sister. 

Antipholus of S. No ; 

It is thyself, mine own self's better part, 61 

Mine eye's clear eye, my dear heart's dearer heart, 
My food, my fortune, and my sweet hope's aim, 
My sole earth's heaven, and my heaven's claim. 

Luciana. All this my sister is, or else should be. 

Antipholus of S. Call thyself sister, sweet, for I aim thee. 
Thee will I love and with thee lead my life; 
Thou hast no husband yet, nor I no wife. 
Give me thy hand. 

Luciana. O, soft, sir ! hold you still; 

I '11 fetch my sister, to get her good will. [Exit. 



ACT III. SCENE II. 



63 



Enter Dromio of Syracuse. 

Antipholus of S. Why, how now, Dromio ! where runn'st thou 
so fast? 72 

Dromio of S. Do you know me, sir? am I Dromio? am I 
your man? am I myself? 

Antipholus of S. Thou art Dromio, thou art my man, thou 
art thyself. 

Dromio of S. I am an ass, I am a woman's man, and be- 
sides myself. 

Antipholus of S. What woman's man? and how besides 
thyself? 80 

Dromio of S. Marry, sir, besides myself, I am due to a 
woman; one that claims me, one that haunts me, one that 
will have me. 

Antipholus of S. What claim lays she to thee? 

Dromio of S. Marry, sir, such a claim as you would lay to 
your horse; and she would have me as a beast: not that, I 
being a beast, she would have me, but that she, being a very 
beastly creature, lays claim to me. 

Antipholus of S. What is she ? 89 

Dromio of S. A very reverent body; ay, such a one as a 
man may not speak of without he say sir -reverence. I 
have but lean luck in the match, and yet is she a wondrous 
fat marriage. 

Antipholus of S. How dost thou mean a fat mar- 
riage ? 

Dromio of S. Marry, sir, she 's the kitchen wench and all 
grease ; and I know not what use to put her to but to make 
a lamp of her and run from her by her own light. I war- 
rant, her rags and the tallow in them will burn a Poland win- 
ter; if she lives till doomsday, she '11 burn a week longer 
than the whole world. 101 

Antipholus of S. What complexion is she of? 

Dromio of S. Swart, like my shoe, but her face nothing like 



64 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS, 

so clean kept: for why, she sweats ; a man may go over shoes 
in the grime of it. 

Antipholus of S. That 's a fault that water will mend. 

Dromio of S. No, sir, 't is in grain; Noah's flood could 
not do it. 

Antipholus of S. What 's her name ? 

Dromio of S. Nell, sir; but her name and three quarters, 
that 's an ell and three quarters, will not measure her from 
hip to hip. 112 

A?itipholus of S. Then she bears some breadth? 

Dromio of S. No longer from head to foot than from hip 
to hip: she is spherical, like a globe; I could find out Coun- 
tries in her. 

Antipholus of S. In what part of her body stands Scotland? 

Dromio of S. I found it by the barrenness; hard in the 
palm of the hand. 

Antipholus of S. Where France? 120 

Dromio of S. In her forehead; armed and reverted, mak- 
ing war against her heir. 

Antipholus of S. Where England? 

Dromio of S. I looked for the chalky cliffs, but I could find 
no whiteness in them; but I guess it stood in her chin, by 
the salt rheum that ran between France and it. 

Antipholus of S. Where Spain? 

Dromio of S. Faith, I saw it not; but I felt it hot in her 
breath. 

Antipholus of S. Where America, the Indies? 130 

Dromio of S. O, sir, upon her nose, all o'er embellished 
with rubies, carbuncles, sapphires, declining their rich aspect 
to the hot breath of Spain, who sent whole armadoes of car- 
acks to be ballast at her nose. 

Antipholus of S. Where stood Belgia, the Netherlands? 

Dro?nio of S. O, sir, I did not look so low. To conclude, 
this drudge, or diviner, laid claim to me; called me Dromio; 
swore I was assured to her; told me what privy marks I had 



ACT III. SCENE II. 6 5 

about me, as, the mark of my shoulder, the mole in my neck, 
the great wart on my left arm, that I amazed ran from her 
as a witch : 141 

And, I think, if my breast had not been made of faith and 

my heart of steel, 
She had transform'd me to a curtal dog and made me turn 
i' the wheel. 

Antipholus of S. Go hie thee presently post to the road. 
An if the wind blow any way from shore, 
I will not harbour in this town to-night. 
If any bark put forth, come to the mart, 
Where I will walk till thou return to me. 
If every one knows us and we know none, 
'T is time, I think, to trudge, pack, and be gone. 150 

Dromio of S. As from a bear a man would run for life, 
So fly I from her that would be my wife. [Exit. 

An'ipholus of S. There 's none but witches do inhabit 
here; 
And therefore 't is high time that I were hence. 
She that doth call me husband, even my soul 
Doth for a wife abhor. But her fair sister, 
Possess'd with such a gentle sovereign grace, 
Of such enchanting presence and discourse, 
Hath almost made me traitor to myself; 
But, lest myself be guilty to self-wrong, j6o 

I '11 stop mine ears against the mermaid's song. 

Enter Angelo with the chain. 
Angelo. Master Antipholus, — 
Antipholus of S. Ay, that 's my name. 

Angelo. I know it well, sir. Lo, here is the chain. 
I thought to have ta'en you at the Porpentine; 
The chain unfinish'd made me stay thus long. 

Antipholus of S. What is your will that I shall do with 
this? 

E 



66 



THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 



Angelo. What please yourself, sir; I have made it for you. 

Antipholus of S. Made it for me, sir! I bespoke it not. 

Angelo. Not once, nor twice, but twenty times you have. 
Go home with it and please your wife withal; 170 

And soon at supper-time I '11 visit you, 
And then receive my money for the chain. 

Antipholus of S. I pray you, sir, receive the money now, 
For fear you ne'er see chain nor money more. 

Angelo. You are a merry man, sir; fare you well. [Exit. 

Antipholus of S. What I should think of this, I cannot 
tell; 
But this I think, there 's no man is so vain 
That would refuse so fair an offer'd chain. 
I see a man here needs not live by shifts, 
When in the streets he meets such golden gifts. 180 

I '11 to the mart and there for Dromio stay; 
If any ship put out, then straight away. [Exit 





RUINS OF THE GYMNASIUM AT EPHESUS. 



ACT IV. . 
Scene I. A Public Place. 
Enter Second Merchant, Angelo, and an Officer. 

2 Merchant. You know since Pentecost the sum is due, 
And since I have not much importun'd you ; 
Nor now I had not, but that I am bound 
To Persia and want guilders for my voyage. 
Therefore make present satisfaction, 
Or I '11 attach you by this officer. 

Angelo. Even just the sum that I do owe to you 
Is growing to me by Antipholus, 
And in the instant that I met with you 
He had of me a chain; at five o'clock 
I shall receive the money for the same. 



68 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

Pleaseth you walk with me down to his house, 
I will discharge ray bond and thank you too. 

Efiter Antipholus of Ephesus and Dromio of Ephesus, 
from the courtesan 's. 

Officer. That labour may you save; see where he comes. 

Antipholus of E. While I go to the goldsmith's house, go 
thou 
And buy a rope's end; that will I bestow 
Among my wife and her confederates, 
For locking me out of my doors by day. 
But, soft! I see the goldsmith. Get thee gone; 
Buy thou a rope and bring it home to me. 20 

Dromio of E. I buy a thousand pound a year ! I buy a 
rope ! [Exit. 

Antipholus ofE.A man is well holp up that trusts to you! 
I promised your presence and the chain ; 
But neither chain nor goldsmith came to me. 
Belike you thought our love would last too long, 
If it were chain'd together, and therefore came not. 

Angelo. Saving your merry humour, here 's the note 
How much your chain weighs to the utmost carat, 
The fineness of the gold, and chargeful fashion, 
Which doth amount to three odd ducats more 30 

Than I stand debted to this gentleman. 
I pray you, see him presently discharg'd, 
For he is bound to sea and stays but for it. 

Antipholus of E. I am not furnish'd with the present 
money ; 
Besides, I have some business in the town. 
Good signior, take the stranger to my house, 
And with you take the chain and bid my wife 
Disburse the sum on the receipt thereof ; 
Perchance I will be there as soon as you. 

Angelo. Then you will bring the chain to her yourself? 40 



ACT IV. SCENE I. fy 

Antipholus of E. No ; bear it with you, lest I come not 
time enough. 

Angelo. Well, sir, I will. Have you the chain about you? 

Antipholus of E. An if I have not, sir, I hope you have; 
Or else you may return without your money. 

Angelo. Nay, come, I pray you, sir, give me the chain ; 
Both wind and tide stays for this gentleman, 
And I, to blame, have held him here too long. 

Antipholus of E. Good Lord! you use this dalliance to ex- 
cuse 
Your breach of promise to the Porpentine. 
I should have chid you for not bringing it, 50 

But, like a shrew, you first begin to brawl. 

2 Merchant. The hour steals on ; I pray you, sir, dispatch. 

Angelo. You hear how he importunes me; — the chain! 

Antipholus of E. Why, give it to my wife, and fetch your 
money. 

Angelo. Come, come, you know I gave it you even now. 
Either send the chain or send me by some token. 

Antipholus of E. Fie, now you run this humour out of 
breath. 
Come, where 's the chain? I pray you, let me see it. 

2 Merchant. My business cannot brook this dalliance. 
Good sir, say whether you '11 answer me or no; 6o 

If not, I '11 leave him to the officer. 

Antipholus of E. I answer you ! what should I answer 
you? 

Angelo. The money that you owe me for the chain. 

Antipholus of E. I owe you none till I receive the chain. 

Angelo. You know I gave it you half an hour since. 

Antipholus of E. You gave me none; you wrong me much 
to say so. 

Angelo. You wrong me more, sir, in denying it ; 
Consider how it stands upon my credit. 

2 Merchant. Well, officer, arrest him at my suit. 



70 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

Officer. I do, and charge you in the duke's name to obey 
me. 70 

Angelo. This touches me in reputation. 
Either consent to pay this sum for me, 
Or I attach you by this officer. 

Antipholus of E. Consent to pay thee that I never had! 
Arrest me, foolish fellow, if thou dar'st. 

Angelo. Here is thy fee; arrest him, officer. — 
I would not spare my brother in this case, 
If he should scorn me so apparently. 

Officer. I do arrest you, sir • you hear the suit. 

Antipholus of E. I do obey thee till I give thee bail. — 80 
But, sirrah, you shall buy this sport as dear 
As all the metal in your shop will answer. 

Angelo. Sir, sir, I shall have law in Ephesus, 
To your notorious shame ; I doubt it not. 

Enter Dromio of Syracuse, from the bay. 

Dromio of S. Master, there is a bark of Epidamnum 
That stays but till her owner comes aboard, 
And then she bears away. Our fraughtage, sir, 
I have convey'd aboard, and I have bought 
The oil, the balsamum, and aqua-vitae. 

The ship is in her trim ; the merry wind 90 

Blows fair from land : they stay for nought at all 
But for their owner, master, and yourself. 

Antipholus of E. How now! a madman! Why, thou peev- 
ish sheep, 
What ship of Epidamnum stays for me? 

Dromio of S. A ship you sent me to, to hire waftage. 

Antipholus of E. Thou drunken slave, I sent thee for a 
rope, 
And told thee to what purpose and what end. 

Dromio of S. You sent me for a rope's end as soon ; 
You sent me to the bay, sir, for a bark. 



ACT IV. SCENE II. 



71 



Antipholus of E. I will debate this matter at more leisure, 
And teach your ears to list me with more heed. 101 

To Adriana, villain, hie thee straight ; 
Give her this key, and tell her, in the desk 
That 's cover'd o'er with Turkish tapestry 
There is a purse of ducats; let her send it. 
Tell her I am arrested in the street, 
And that shall bail me. Hie thee, slave, be gone! — 
On, officer, to prison till it come. 

[Exeunt 2 Merchant, Angelo, Officer, and Antipholus ;/ E. 

Dromio of S. To Adriana! that is where we din'd, 
Where Dowsabel did claim me for her husband ; n« 

She is too big, I hope, for me to compass. 
Thither I must, although against my will, 
For servants must their masters' minds fulfil. [Exit. 

Scene II. The House of Antipholus of Ephesus. 
Enter Adriana and Luciana. 

Adriana. Ah, Luciana, did he tempt thee so? 

Mightst thou perceive austerely in his eye 
That he did plead in earnest? yea or no? 

Look'd he or red or pale, or sad or merrily? 
What observation mad'st thou in this case 
Of his heart's meteors tilting in his face? 

Luciana. First he denied you had in him no right. 

Adriana. He meant he did me none; the more my spite. 

Luciana. Then swore he that he was a stranger here. 

Adriana. And true -he swore, though yet forsworn he were. 

Luciana. Then pleaded I for you. 

Adriana. And what said he ? u 

Luciafia. That love I begg'd for you he begg'd of me. 

Adriana. With what persuasion did he tempt thy love ? 

Luciana. With words that in an honest suit might move. 
First he did praise my beauty, then my speech. 



72 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

Adriana. Didst speak him fair? 

Luciana. Have patience, I beseech. 

Adriana. I cannot, nor I will not, hold me still; 
My tongue, though not my heart, shall have his will. 
He is deformed, crooked, old and sere, 

Ill-fac'd, worse bodied, shapeless everywhere ; 20 

Vicious, ungentle, foolish, blunt, unkind, 
Stigmatical in making, worse in mind. 

Luciana. Who would be jealous then of such a one ? 
No evil lost is wail'd when it is gone. 

Adriana. Ah, but I think him better than I say, 

And yet would herein others' eyes were worse. 
Far from her nest the lapwing cries away; 

My heart prays for him, though my tongue do curse. 

Enter Dromio "of Syracuse. 

Dromio of S. Here ! go ; the desk, the purse ! sweet now, 
make haste. 

Luciana. How hast thou lost thy breath ? 

Dromio of S. By running fast. 

Adriana. Where is thy master, Dromio ? is he well ? 31 

Dromio of S. No, he 's in Tartar limbo, worse than hell. 
A devil in an everlasting garment hath him; 
One whose hard heart is button'd up with steel; 
A fiend, a fairy, pitiless and rough ; 
A wolf, nay, worse, a fellow all in buff; 
A back-friend, a shoulder-clapper, one that countermands 
The passages of alleys, creeks, and narrow lands; 
A hound that runs counter and yet draws dry-foot well; 
One that before the judgment carries poor souls to hell. 40 

Adriana. Why, man, what is the matter? 

Dromio of S. I do not know the matter; he is 'rested on 
the case. 

Adriana. What, is he arrested ? Tell me at whose suit. 

Dromio of S. I know not at whose suit he is arrested well; 



ACT IV. SCENE II. 



73 



But he 's in a suit of buff which 'rested him, that can I tell. 
Will you send him, mistress, redemption, the money in his 
desk? 
Adriana. Go fetch it, sister. — [Exit Lucia?ia/\ This I 
wonder at, 
That he, unknown to me, should be in debt. — 
Tell me, was he arrested on a band ? 

Dromio of S. Not on a band, but on a stronger thing; 
A chain, a chain ! Do you not hear it ring? 51 

Adriana. What, the chain ? 

Dromio of S. No, no, the bell. 'T is time that I were gone ; 
It was two ere I left him, and now the clock strikes one. 
Adriana. The hours come back ! that did I never hear. 
Dromio of S. O, yes; if any hour meet a sergeant, a' turns 

back for very fear. 
Adriana. As if Time were in debt ! how fondly dost thou 

reason ! 
Dromio of S. Time is a very bankrupt, and owes more 
than he 's worth to season. 
Nay, he 's a thief too ; have you not heard men say. 
That Time comes stealing on by night and day ? 60 

If Time be in debt and theft, and a sergeant in the way,. 
Hath he not reason to turn back an hour in a day ? 

Re-enter Luciana with a purse. 

Adriana. Go, Dromio ; there 's the money, bear it straight, 
And bring thy master home immediately. — 
Come, sister; I am press'd down with conceit — 

Conceit, my comfort and my injury. [Exeunt. 




74 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 



Scene III. A Public Place. 

Enter Antipholus of Syracuse. 

Antipholus of S. There 's not a man I meet but doth sa- 
lute me 
As if I were their well-acquainted friend ; 
And every one doth call me by my name. 
Some tender money to me, some invite me; 
Some other give me thanks for kindnesses; 
Some offer me commodities to buy. 
Even now a tailor call'd me in his shop 
And show'd me silks that he had bought for me, 
And therewithal took measure of my body. 
Sure, these are but imaginary wiles, 10 

And Lapland sorcerers inhabit here. 

Enter Dromio of Syracuse. 

Dromio of S. Master, here 's the gold you sent me for. 
What, have you got the picture of old Adam new-apparelled ? 

Antipholus of S. What gold is this ? what Adam dost thou 
mean? 

Dromio of S. Not that Adam that kept the Paradise, but 
that Adam that keeps the prison; he that goes in the calf's 
skin that was killed for the Prodigal; he that came behind 
you, sir, like an evil angel, and bid you forsake your liberty. 

Antipholus of S. I understand thee not. 19 

Dromio of S. No ? why, 't is a plain case : he that went, 
like a bass-viol, in a case of leather; the man, sir, that, when 
gentlemen are tired, gives them a bob and 'rests them ; he, 
sir, that takes pity on decayed men and gives them suits of 
durance; he that sets up his rest to do more exploits with 
his mace than a morris-pike. 

Antipholus of S. What, thou meanest an officer ? 

Dromio of S. Ay, sir, the sergeant of the band ; he that 



ACT IV. SCENE III. 



75 



brings any man to answer it that breaks his band; one that 
thinks a man always going to bed, and says ■ God give you 
good rest !' 30 

Antipholus of S. Well, sir, there rest in your foolery. Is 
there any ship puts forth to-night ? may we be gone ? 

Dromio of S. Why, sir, I brought you word an hour since 
that the bark Expedition put forth to-night ; and then were 
you hindered by the sergeant to tarry for the hoy Delay. 
Here are the angels that you sent for to deliver you. 

Antipholus of S. The fellow is distract, and so am I; 
And here we wander in illusions. 
Some blessed power deliver us from hence ! 

Enter a Courtesan. 

Courtesan. Well met, well met, Master Antipholus. 40 

I see, sir, you have found the goldsmith now; 
Is that the chain you promis'd me to-day ? 

Antipholus of S. Satan, avoid ! I charge thee, tempt me 
not. 

Dromio of S. Master, is this Mistress Satan? 

Antipholus of S. It is the devil. 

Dromio of S. Nay, she is worse, she is the devil's dam, and 
here she comes in the habit of a light wench : and thereof 
comes that the wenches say 'God damn me ;' that 's as much 
as to say 'God make me a light wench.' It is written, they 
appear to men like angels of light : light is an effect of fire, 
and fire will burn ; ergo, light wenches will burn. Come not 
near her. 52 

Courtesan. Your man and you are marvellous merry, sir. 
Will you go with me ? We '11 mend our dinner here. 

Dromio of S. Master, if you do, expect spoon-meat, and be- 
speak a long spoon. 

Antipholus of S. Why, Dromio ? 

Dromio of S. Marry, he must have a long spoon that must 
eat with the devil. 



7 6 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

Antipholus of S. Avoid, thou fiend ! what tell'st thou me 
of supping ? 60 

Thou art, as you are all, a sorceress ; 
I conjure thee to leave me and be gone. 

Courtesan. Give me the ring of mine you had at dinner, 
Or, for my diamond, the chain you promis'd, 
And I '11 be gone, sir, and not trouble you. 

Drotnio of S. Some devils ask but the parings of one's nail, 
A rush, a hair, a drop of blood, a pin, 
A nut, a cherry-stone ; 

But she, more covetous, would have a chain. 
Master, be wise ; an if you give it her, 70 

The devil will shake her chain and fright us with it. 

Courtesan. I pray you, sir, my ring, or else the chain ; 
I hope you do not mean to cheat me so. 

Antipholus of S. Avaunt, thou witch ! — Come, Dromio, let 
us go. 

Dromio of S. Fly pride, says the peacock ; mistress, that 
you know. \Exeunt Antipholus and Dromio of S. 

Courtesan. Now, out of doubt Antipholus is mad, 
Else wouTd he never so demean himself. 
A ring he hath of mine worth forty ducats, 
And for the same he promis'd me a chain ; 
Both one and other he denies me now. 80 

The reason that I gather he is mad, 
Besides this present instance of his rage, 
Is a mad tale he told to-day at dinner, 
Of his own doors being shut against his entrance. 
Belike his wife, acquainted with his fits, 
On purpose shut the doors against his way. 
My way is now to hie home to his house, 
And tell his wife that, being lunatic, 
He rush'd into my house and took perforce 
My ring away. This course I fittest choose, 90 

For forty ducats is too much to lose. [Exit, 



ACT IV. SCENE IV, 77 



Scene IV. A Street 

Enter Antipholus of Ephesus and the Officer. 

Antipholus ofE. Fear me not, man ; I will not break away ; 
I '11 give thee, ere I leave thee, so much money, 
To warrant thee, as I am 'rested for. 
My wife is in a wayward mood to-day, 
And will no: lightly trust the messenger. 
That I should be attach'd in Ephesus, 
I tell you, 't will sound harshly in her ears. 

Enter Dromio of Ephesus with a rope's-end. 
Here comes my man; I think he brings the money. — 
How now, sir ! have you that I sent you for? 

Dromio of E. Here 's that, I warrant you, will pay them all. 

Antipholus of E. But where 's the money ? „ 

Dromio of E. Why, sir, I gave the money for the rope. 

Antipholus of E. Five hundred ducats, villain, for a rope ? 

Dromio of E. I '11 serve you, sir, five hundred at the rate. 

Antipholus ofE. To what end did I bid thee hie thee home ? 

Dromio of E. To a rope's-end, sir; and to that end am I 
returned. 

Antipholus of E. And to that end, sir, I will welcome you. 

[Beating him. 

Officer. Good sir, be patient. 

Dromio of E. Nay, 'tis for me to be patient; I am in ad- 
versity. 2I 

Officer. Good now, hold thy tongue. 

Dromio ofE. Nay, rather persuade him to hold his hands. 

Antipholus of E. Thou whoreson, senseless villain ! 

Dromio of E. I would I were senseless, sir, that I might 
not feel your blows. 

Antipholus of E. Thou art sensible in nothing but blows, 
and so is an ass. 



7 8 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

Dro7nio of E. I am an ass, indeed ; you may prove it by 
my long ears. I have served him from the hour of my na- 
tivity to this instant, and have nothing at his hands for my 
service but blows. When I am cold, he heats me with beat- 
ing; when I am warm, he cools me with beating: I am waked 
with it when I sleep, raised with it when I sit, driven out of 
doors with* it when I go from home, welcomed home with it 
when I return : nay, I bear it on my shoulders, as a beggar 
wont her brat; and, I think, when he hath lamed me, I shall 
beg with it from door to door. 3 8 

Antipholus of E. Come, go along; my wife is coming 
yonder. 

Enter Adriana, Luciana, the Courtesan, and Pinch. 

Dromio of E. Mistress, respice finem, respect your end; 
or rather, the prophecy like the parrot, beware the rope's-end. 

Antipholus of E. Wilt thou still talk? [Beating him. 

Courtesan. How say you now? is not your husband mad? 

Adriana. His incivility confirms no less. 
Good Doctor Pinch, you are a conjurer; 
Establish him in his true sense again, 
And I will please you what you will demand. 

Lucia?ia. Alas, how fiery and how sharp he looks ! 

Courtesan. Mark how he trembles in his ecstasy ! 

Pinch. Give me your hand, and let me feel your pulse, so 

Antipholus of E. There is my hand, and let it feel your ear. 

[Striking him. 

Pinch. I charge thee, Satan, hous'd within this man, 
To yield possession to my holy prayers, 
And to thy state of darkness hie thee straight; 
I conjure thee by all the saints in heaven ! 

Antipholus of E. Peace, doting wizard, peace ! I am not 
mad. 

Adriana. O, that thou wert not, poor distressed soul ! 

Antipholus of E. You minion, you, are these your customers? 



ACT IV. SCENE IV. 



79 



Did this companion with the saffron face 

Revel and feast it at my house to-day, 60 

Whilst upon me the guilty doors were shut 

And I denied to enter in my house ? 

Adriana. O husband, God doth know you din'd at home; 
Where would you had remain'd until this time, 
Free from these slanders and this open shame ! 

Antipholns of E. Din'd at home ! — Thou villain, what say'st 
thou? 

Dromio of E. Sir, sooth to say, you did not dine at home. 

Antipholus of E. Were not my doors lock'd up and I shut 
out? 

Dromio of E. Perdy, your doors were lock'd and you shut 

OUt. 69 

Antipholus ofE. And did not she herself revile me there? 
Dromio of E. Sans fable, she herself revil'd you there. 
Antipholus of E. Did not her kitchen-maid rail, taunt, and 

scorn me ? 
Dromio of E. Certes, she did; the kitchen-vestal scorn'd 
. you. 

Antipholus of E. And did not I in rage depart from thence? 
Dromio of E. In verity you did; my bones bear witness, 
That since have felt the vigour of his rage. 

Adriana. Is 't good to soothe him in these contraries ? 
Pinch. It is no shame ; the fellow finds his vein, 
And yielding to him humours well his frenzy. 

Antipholus ofE. Thou hast suborn'd the goldsmith to arrest 
me. 80 

Adriana. Alas, I sent you money to redeem you, 
Bv Dromio here, who came in haste for it. 

Dromio of E. Money by me! heart and good -will you 
might; — 
But surely, master, not a rag of money. 

Antipholus of E. Went'st not thou to her for a purse of 
ducats ? 



8o THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

Adriana. He came to me and I deliver'd it. 

Luciana. And I am witness with her that she did. 

Dromio of E. God and the rope-maker bear me witness 
That I was sent for nothing but a rope ! 

Pinch. Mistress, both man and master is possess'd ; 90 
I know it by their pale and deadly looks. 
They must be bound and laid in some dark room. 

Antipholus of E. Say, wherefore didst thou lock me forth 
to-day ? — 
And why dost thou deny the bag of gold ? 

Adriana. I did not, gentle husband, lock thee forth. 

Dromio of E. And, gentle master, I receiv'd no gold; 
But I confess, sir, that we were lock'd out. 

Adriana. Dissembling villain, thou speak'st false in both. 

Antipholus of E. Dissembling harlot, thou art false in 
all, 
And art confederate with a damned pack 100 

To make a loathsome abject scorn of me; 
But with these nails I '11 pluck out these false eyes 
That would behold in me this shameful sport. 

Enter three or four, and offer to bind him. He strives. 
Adriana. O, bind him, bind him ! let him not come near 

me. 
Pinch. More company ! The fiend is strong within him. 
Luciana. Ay me, poor man, how pale and wan he looks ! 
Antipholus of E. What, will you murther me? — Thou gaol- 
er, thou, 
I am thy prisoner; wilt thou suffer them 
To make a rescue? 

Officer. Masters, let him go ; 

He is my prisoner, and you shall not have him. no 

Pinch. Go bind this man, for he is frantic too. • 

[ They offer to bind Dromio of E. 
Adriana. What wilt thou do, thou peevish officer ? 



ACT IV. SCEXE IV 



81 



I20 



Hast thou delight to see a wretched man 
Do outrage and displeasure to himself? 

Officer. He is my prisoner; if I let him go, 
The debt he owes will be requir'd of me. 

Adriana. I will discharge thee ere I go from thee. 
Bear me forthwith unto his creditor, 
And, knowing how the debt grows, I will pay it- 
Good master doctor, see him safe convey'd 
Home to my house. — O most unhappy day! 
Antiphohcs of E. O most unhappy strumpet ! 
Dromio of E. Master, I am here enter'd in bond for you. 
Antiphohcs of E. Out on thee, villain ! wherefore dost thou 

mad me ? 
Dromio of E. Will you be bound for nothing? be mad, 
good master; cry 'The devil !' 

Luciana. God help, poor souls, how idly do they talk ! 

Adriana. Go bear him hence. — Sister, go you with me. 

[Exeunt all but Adria?ia, Luciana, Officer, 
and Courtesan. 
Say now, whose suit is he arrested at? 

Officer. One Angelo, a goldsmith; do you know him? i 3 o 
Adriana. I know the man. What is the sum he owes? 
Officer. Two hundred ducats. 

Adriana. Say, how grows it due ? 

Officer. Due for a chain your husband had of him. 
Adriana. He did bespeak a chain for me, but had it 

not. 
Courtesan. Whenas your husband all in rage to-day 
Came to my house and took away my ring— 
The ring I saw upon his finger now — 
Straight after did I meet him with a chain. 

Adriana. It may be so, but I did never see it. — 
Come, gaoler, bring me where the goldsmith is; I4Q 

I long to know the truth hereof at larse. 

F 



g 2 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

Enter Antipholus of Syracuse with his rapier drawn, and 
Dromio of Syracuse. 

Luciana. God, for thy mercy 1 they are loose again. 

Adriana. And come with naked swords. 
Let 's call more help to have them bound again. 

Officer. Away ! they '11 kill us. 

[Exeunt all but Antipholus of S. and Dromio of S. 

Antipholus of S. I see these witches are afraid of swords. 

Dromio of S. She that would be your wife now ran from 
you. 

Antipholus of S. Come to the Centaur; fetch our stuff from 
thence : 
I long that we were safe and sound aboard. 149 

Dromio of S. Faith, stay here this night; they will surely 
do us no harm : you saw they speak us fair, give us gold. 
Methinks they are such a gentle nation that, but for the 
mountain of mad flesh that claims marriage of me, I could 
find in my heart to stay here still and turn witch. 

Antipholus of S. I will not stay to-night for all the town; 
Therefore away, to get our stuff aboard. [Exeunt. 





REMAINS OF THE AMPHITHEATRE AT EPHESUS. 



ACT V. 

Scene I. A Street before a Priory. 
Enter Second Merchant and Angelo. 

Angelo. I am sorry, sir, that I have hinder'd you; 
But, I protest, he had the chain of me, 
Though -most dishonestly he cloth deny it. 

2 Merchant. How is the man esteem'd here in the city? 

Angelo. Of very reverend reputation, sir, 
Of credit infinite, highly belov'd, 
Second to none that lives here in the city; 
His word might bear my wealth at any time. 

2 Merchant. Speak softly; yonder, as I think, he walks. 

Enter Antipholus of Syracuse and Dromio of Syracuse. 

Angelo. ? T is so; and that self chain about his neck 
Which he forswore most monstrously to have. 



10 



84 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

Good sir, draw near to me, I '11 speak to him. — 

Signior Antipholus, I wonder much 

That you would put me to this shame and trouble, 

And, not without some scandal to yourself, 

With circumstance and oaths so to deny 

This chain which now you wear so openly. 

Beside the charge, the shame, imprisonment, 

You have done wrong to this my honest friend, 

Who, but for staying on our controversy, 20 

Had hoisted sail and put to sea to-day. 

This chain you had of me; can you deny it? 

Antipholus of S. I think I had; I never did deny it. 

2 Merchant. Yes, that you did. sir, and forswore it too. 

Antipholus of S. W T ho heard me to deny it or forswear it ? 

2 Merchant. These ears of mine, thou know'st, did hear 
thee. 
Fie on thee, wretch ! 't is pity that thou liv'st 
To walk where any honest men resort. 

Antipholus of S. Thou art a villain to impeach me thus; 
I '11 prove mine honour and mine honesty 30 

Against thee presently, if thou dar'st stand. 

2 Merchant. I dare, and do defy thee for a villain. 

[They draw. 

Enter Adriana, Luciana, the Courtesan, and others. 

Adriana. Hold, hurt him not, for God's sake !■ he is mad. — 
Some get within him, take his sword away. 
Bind Dromio too, and bear them to my house. 

Dromio of S. Run, master, run ; for God's sake, take a 
house ! 
This is some priory. In, or we are spoil'd ! 

[Exeunt Antipholus of S. and Dromio of S. to the Eriory. 

Enter the Lady Abbess. 
Abbess. Be quiet, people. Wherefore throng you hither? 



ACT V. SCENE I. 3 5 

Adriana. To fetch my poor distracted husband hence. 
Let us come in, that we may bind him fast 4 <, 

And bear him home for his recovery. 

Angelo. I knew he was not in his perfect wits. 
2 Merchant. I am sorry now that I did draw on him. 
Abbess. How long hath this possession held the man ? 
Adriana. This week he hath been heavy, sour, sad, 
And much different from the man he was; 
But till this afternoon his passion 
Ne'er brake into extremity of rage. 

Abbess. Hath he not lost much wealth by wrack of sea ? 
Buried some dear friend ? Hath not else his eye so 

Stray 'd his affection in unlawful love ? 
A sin prevailing much in youthful men, 
Who give their eyes the liberty of gazing. 
Which of these sorrows is he subject to? 

Adriana. To none of these, except it be the last; 
Namely, some love that drew him oft from home. 
Abbess. You should for that have reprehended him. 
Adriana. Why, so I did. 

Abbess. Ay, but not rough enough. 

Adriana. As roughly as my modesty would let me. 
Abbess. Haply, in private. 

Adriana. And in assemblies too. 60 

Abbess. Ay, but not enough. 
Adriana. It was the copy of our conference : 
In bed he slept not for my urging it; 
At board he fed not for my urging it ; 
Alone, it was the subject of my theme; 
In company I often glanced it; 
Still did I tell him it was vile and bad. 

Abbess. And thereof came it that the man was mad. 
The venom clamours of a jealous woman 
Poisons more deadly than a mad dog's tooth. 70 

It seems his sleeps were hinder'd by thy railing, 



86 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

And thereof comes it that his head is light. 

Thou say'st his meat was sauc'd with thy upbraidings : 

Unquiet meals make ill digestions; 

Thereof the raging fire of fever bred ; 

And what 's a fever but a fit of madness? 

Thou say'st his sports were hinder'd by thy brawls: 

Sweet recreation barr'd, what cloth ensue 

But moody and dull melancholy, 

Kinsman to grim and comfortless despair, So 

And at her heels a huge infectious troop 

Of pale distemperatures and foes to life? 

In food, in sport, and life-preserving rest 

To be disturb'd, would mad or man or beast. 

The consequence is then thy jealous fits 

Have scar'd thy husband from the use of wits. 

Luciana. She never reprehended him but mildly, 
When he demean'd himself rough, rude, and wildly. — 
Why bear you these rebukes and answer not? 

Adriana. She did betray me to my own reproof. — 90 

Good people, enter and lay hold on him. 

Abbess. No, not a creature enters in my house. 

Adriana. Then let your servants bring my husband forth. 

Abbess. Neither; he took this place for sanctuary, 
And it shall privilege him from your hands 
Till I have brought him to his wits again, 
Or lose my labour in assaying it. 

Adriana. I will attend my husband, be his nurse, 
Diet his sickness, for it is my office, 

And will have no attorney but myself; 100 

And therefore let me have him home with me. 

Abbess. Be patient; for I will not let him stir 
Till I have us'd the approved means I have, 
With wholesome syrups, drugs, and holy prayers, 
To make of him a formal man again. 
It is a branch and parcel of mine oath, 



ACT V. SCENE I. 87 

A charitable duty of my order. 

Therefore depart and leave him here with me. 

Adriana.. I will not hence and leave my husband here; 
And ill it cloth beseem your holiness no 

To separate the husband and the wife. 

Abbess. Be quiet and depart; thou shalt not have him. 

[Exit. 

Luciana. Complain unto the duke of this indignity. 

Adriana. Come, go; I will fall prostrate at his feet, 
And never rise until my tears and prayers 
Have won his grace to come in person hither 
And take perforce my husband from the abbess. 

2 Merchant. By this, I think, the dial points at five. 
Anon, I 'm sure, the duke himself in person 
Comes this way to the melancholy vale, 120 

The place of death and sorry execution, 
Behind the ditches of the abbey here. 

Angelo. Upon what cause? 

2 Merchant. To see a reverend Syracusian merchant, 
Who put unluckily into this bay 
Against the laws and statutes of this town. 
Beheaded publicly for his offence. 

Angelo. See where they come; we will behold his death. 

Luciana. Kneel to the duke before he pass the abbey. 

Enter Duke, attended ; ^Egeon bareheaded ; with the Heads- 
man and other Officers. 

Duke. Yet once again proclaim it publicly, 130 

If any friend will pay the sum for him, 
He shall not die; so much we tender him. 

Adriana. Justice, most sacred duke, against the abbess! 

Duke. She is a virtuous and a reverend ladv ; 
It cannot be that she hath done thee wrong. 

Adriana. May it please your grace, Antipholus my husband, 
Who I made lord of me and all I had, 



88 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

At your important letters, — this ill day 

A most outrageous fit of madness took him; 

That desperately he hurried through the street, — 140 

With him his bondman, all as mad as he, — 

Doing displeasure to the citizens 

By rushing in their houses, bearing thence 

Rings, jewels, any thing his rage did like. 

Once did I get him bound and sent him home, 

Whilst to take order for the wrongs I went 

That here and there his fury had committed. 

Anon, I wot not by what strong escape, 

He broke from those that had the guard of him, 

And with his mad attendant and himself, 150 

Each one with ireful passion, with drawn swords, 

Met us again, and madly bent on us 

Chas'd us away, till raising of more aid 

We came again to bind them. Then they fled 

Into this abbey, whither we pursued them; 

And here the abbess shuts the gates on us, 

And will not suffer us to fetch him out, 

Nor send him forth that we may bear him hence. 

Therefore, most gracious duke, with thy command 

Let him be brought forth and borrte hence for help. 160 

Duke. Long since thy husband serv'd me in my wars, 
And I to thee engag'd a prince's word, 
When thou didst make him master of thy bed, 
To do him all the grace and good I could. — 
Go, some of you, knock at the abbey-gate 
And bid the lady abbess come to me. — ■ 
I will determine this before I stir. 

Enter a Servant. 

Servant. O mistress, mistress, shift and save yourself! 
My master and his man are both broke loose, 
Beaten the maids a-row, and bound the doctor, 170 



ACT V. SCENE I. gg 

Whose beard they have sing'd off with brands of fire; 
And ever, as it blaz'd, they threw on him 
Great pails of puddled mire to quench the hair. 
My master preaches patience to him, and the while 
His man with scissors nicks him like a fool; 
And sure, unless you send some present help, 
Between them they will kill the conjurer. 

Adriana. Peace, fool! thy master and his man are here, 
And that is false thou dost report to us. 

Servant. Mistress, upon my life, I tell you true; 180 

I have not breath'd almost since I did see it. 
He cries for you and vows, if he can take you, 
To scorch your face and to disfigure you. — [Cry within. 

Hark, hark! I hear him, mistress; fly, be gone! 

Duke. Come, stand by me; fear nothing. — Guard with 
halberds! 

Adriana. Ay me, it is my husband! — Witness you, 
That he is borne about invisible. 
Even now we hous'd him in the abbey here; 
And now he 's there, past thought of human reason. 

Enter Antipholus of Ephesus and Dromio of Ephesus. 

Antipholus of E. Justice, most gracious duke, O, grant me 
justice! igo 

Even for the service that long since I did thee, 
When I bestricl thee in the wars and took 
Deep scars to save thy life; even for the blood 
That then I lost for thee, now grant me justice. 

sEgeon. Unless the fear of death doth make me dote, 
I see my son Antipholus and Dromio. 

Antipholus of E. Justice, sweet prince, against that woman 
there ! 
She whom thou gav'st to me to be my wife, 
That hath abused and dishonour'd me 
Even in the strength and height of injury! 200 



9 o THE COMEDY OE ERRORS. 

Beyond imagination is the wrong 

That she this day hath shameless thrown on me. 

Duke. Discover how, and thou shalt find me just. 

Antipholus of E. This day, great duke, she shut the doors 
upon me, 
While she with harlots feasted in my house. 

Duke. A grievous fault! Say, woman, didst thou so? 

Adriana. No, my good lord; myself, he, and my sister 
To-day did dine together. So befall my soul 
As this is false he burdens me withal! 

Luciana. Ne'er may I look on day, nor sleep on night, 
But she tells to your highness simple truth! 211 

Angelo. O perjure! woman! They are both forsworn, 
In this the madman justly chargeth them. 

Antipholus of E. My liege, I am advised what I say, 
Neither disturb'd with the effect of wine, 
Nor heady-rash, provok'd with raging ire, 
Albeit my wrongs might make one wiser mad. 
This woman lock'd me out this day from dinner. 
That goldsmith there, were he not pack'd with her, 
Could witness it, for he was with me then; 220 

Who parted with me to go fetch a chain, 
Promising to bring it to the Porpentine, 
Where Balthazar and I did dine together. 
Our dinner done, and he not coming thither, 
I went to seek him; in the street I met him 
And in his company that gentleman. 
There did this perjur'd goldsmith swear me down 
That I this day of him receiv'd the chain, 
Which, God he knows, I saw not; for the which 
He did arrest me with an officer. 230 

I did obey, and sent my peasant home 
For certain ducats; he with none return'd. 
Then fairly I bespoke the officer 
To go in person with me to my house. 



ACT V. SCENE I. 91 

By the way we met 

My wife, her sister, and a rabble more 

Of vile confederates. Along with them 

They brought one Pinch, a hungry lean-fac'd villain, 

A mere anatomy, a mountebank, 

A threadbare juggler, and a fortune-teller, 240 

A needy, hollow eyed, sharp-looking wretch, 

A living dead man ; this pernicious slave, 

Forsooth, took on him as a conjurer, 

And, gazing in mine eyes, feeling my pulse, 

And with no face, as 't were, outfacing me, 

Cries out, I was possess'd. Then all together 

They fell upon me, bound me, bore me thence 

And in a dark and dankish vault at home 

There left me and my man, both bound together ; 

Till, gnawing with my teeth my bonds in sunder, 250 

I gain'd my freedom and immediately 

Ran hither to your grace ; whom I beseech 

To give me ample satisfaction 

For these deep shames and great indignities. 

Angelo. My lord, in truth, thus far I witness with him, 
That he din'd not at home, but was lock'd out. 

Duke. But had he such a chain of thee or no? 

Angelo. He had, my lord; and when he ran in here, 
These people saw the chain about his neck. 

2 Merchant. Besides, I will be sworn these ears of mine 
Heard you confess you had the chain of him 261 

After you first forswore it on the mart, 
And thereupon I drew my sword on you ; 
And then you fled into this abbey here, 
From whence, I think, you are come by miracle. 

Antipholus of E. I never came within these abbey-walls, 
Nor ever didst thou draw thy sword on me: . 
I never saw the chain, so help me Heaven ! 
And this is false you burden me withal. 



9 2 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

Duke. Why, what an intricate impeach is this! 270 

I think you all have drunk of Circe's cup. — 
If here you hous'd him, here he would have been ; 
If he were mad, he would not plead so coldly. — 
You say he din'd at home; the goldsmith Jure 
Denies that saying. — Sirrah, what say you? 

Dromio of E. Sir, he din'd with her there, at the Porpen- 
tine. 

Courtesa?i. He did, and from my finger snatch'd that ring. 

Antipholus of E. 'T is true, my liege; this ring I had of 
her. 

Duke. Saw'st thou him enter at the abbey here? 

Courtesan. As sure, my liege, as I do see your grace. 280 

Duke. Why, this is strange. — Go call the abbess hither. — 
I think you are all mated or stark mad. 

\_Exit one to the Abbess. 

sEgeon. Most mighty duke, vouchsafe me speak a word. 
Haply I see a friend will save my life 
And pay the sum that may deliver me. 

Duke. Speak freely, Syracusian, what thou wilt. 

yEgeon. Is not your name, sir, call'd Antipholus? 
And is not that your bondman, Dromio? 

Dromio of E. Within this hour I was his bondman, sir, 
But he, I thank him, gnaw'd in two my cords; 290 

Now am I Dromio and his man unbound. 

yEgeon. I am sure you both of you remember me. 

Dromio of E. Ourselves we do remember, sir, by you; 
For lately we were bound, as you are now. 
You are not Pinch's patient, are you, sir? 

yEgeon. Why look you strange on me? you know me well. 

Antipholus ofE.l never saw you in my life till now. 

yEgeon. O, grief hath chang'd me since you saw me last, 
And careful hours with time's deformed hand 
Have written strange defeatures in my face; 300 

But tell me yet, dost thou not know my voice? 



ACT V. SCENE I. 93 

Antipholus of E. Neither. 

sEgeon. Dromio, nor thou? 

Dromio of E. No, trust me, sir, nor I. 

yEgeon. I am sure thou dost. 

Dromio of E. Ay. sir, but I am sure I do not; and what- 
soever a man denies, you are now bound to believe him. 

sEgeo7i. Not know my voice! O time's extremity, 
Hast thou so crack'd and splitted my poor tongue 
In seven short years, that here my only son 
Knows not my feeble key of untnn'd cares? 310 

Though now this grained face of mine be hid 
In sap-consuming winter's drizzled snow 
And all the conduits of my blood froze up, 
Yet hath my night of life some memory, 
My wasting lamps some fading glimmer left, 
My dull deaf ears a little use to hear. 
All these old witnesses — I cannot err — 
Tell me thou art my son Antipholus. 

Antipholus of E. I never saw my father in my life. 

jEgeon. But seven years since, in Syracusa, boy, 320 

Thou know'st we parted ; but perhaps, my son, 
Thou sham'st to acknowledge me in misery. 

Antipholus of E. The duke and all that know me in the 
city 
Can witness with me that it is not so: 
I ne'er saw Syracusa in my life. 

Duke. I tell thee, Syracusian, twenty years 
Have I been patron to Antipholus, 
During which ti-me he ne'er saw Syracusa. 
I see thy age and dangers make thee dote. 329 

Re-enter Abbess, with Antipholus of Syracuse and Dromio 

of Syracuse. 

Abbess. Most mighty duke, behold a man much wrong'd. 

[All gather to see them. 



94 



THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 



Adriana. I see two husbands, or mine eyes deceive me. 

Duke. One of these men is Genius to the other; 
And so of these. Which is the natural man, 
And which the spirit? who deciphers them? 

Dromio of S. I, sir, am Dromio; command him away. 

Dromio of E. I, sir, am Dromio; pray, let me stay. 

Antipholus of S. y^Egeon art thou not? or else his ghost? 

Dromio of S. O, my old master! who hath bound him 
here ? 

Abbess. Whoever bound him, I will loose his bonds 
And gain a husband by his liberty. — 340 

Speak, old ^Egeon, if thou be'st the man 
That hadst a wife once call'd Emilia 
That bore thee at a burden two fair sons, — 
O, if thou be'st the same ^Egeon, speak, 
And speak unto the same ^Emilia! 

sEgeon. If I dream not, thou art ^Emilia; 
If thou art she, tell me where is that son 
That floated with thee on the fatal raft? 
. Abbess. By men of Epidamnum he and I 
And the twin Dromio all were taken up; 350 

But by and by rude fishermen of Corinth 
By force took Dromio and my son from them, 
And me they left with those of Epidamnum. 
What then became of them I cannot tell; 
I to this fortune that you see me in. 

Duke. Why, here begins his morning story right: 
These two Antipholuses, these two so like, 
And these two Dromios, one in semblance, — 
Besides her urging of her wrack at sea, — ■ 
These are the parents to these children, 360 

Which accidentally are met together. — 
Antipholus, thou cam'st from Corinth first? 

Antipholus of S. No, sir, not I ; I came from Syracuse. 

Duke. Stay, stand apart; I know not which is which. 



ACT V. SCENE I. 



95 



Antipholus of E. I came from Corinth, my most gracious 
lord, — 

Dromio of E. And I with him. 

Antipholus of E. Brought to this town by that most famous 
warrior, 
Duke Menaphon, your most renowned uncle. 

Adriana. Which of you two did dine with me to-day? 

Antipholus of S. I, gentle mistress. 

Adriana. And are not you my husband? 

Antipholus of E. No; I say nay to that. 371 

Antipholus of S. And so do I ; yet did she call me so; 
And this fair gentlewoman, her sister here, 
Did call me brother. — [To Luciano] What I told you then, 
I hope I shall have leisure to make good, 
If this be not a dream I see and hear. 

Angela. That is the chain, sir, which you had of me. 

Antipholus of S. I think it be, sir; I deny it not. 

Antipholus of E. And you, sir, for this chain arrested me. 

Angelo. I think I did, sir; I deny it not. 380 

Adriana. I sent you money, sir, to be your bail, 
By Dromio; but I think he brought it not. 

Dromio of E. No, none by me. 

Antipholus of S. This purse of ducats I receiv'd from you 
And Dromio my man did bring them me. 
I see we still did meet each other's man, 
And I was ta'en for him, and he for me, 
And thereupon these errors all arose. 

Antipholus of E. These ducats pawn I for my father here. 

Duke. It shall not need; thy father hath his life. 390 

Courtesan. Sir, I must have that diamond from you. 

Antipholus of E. There, take it; and much thanks for my 
good cheer. 

Abbess. Renowned duke, vouchsafe to take the pains 
To go with us into the abbey here 
And hear at large discoursed all our fortunes; — 



9 6 THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 

And all that are assembled in this place, 

That by this sympathized one day's error 

Have suffer'd wrong, go keep us company, 

And we shall make full satisfaction. — 

Thirty-three years have I but gone in travail 400 

Of you, my sons; and till this present hour 

My heavy burthen ne'er delivered. — 

The duke, my husband, and my children both, 

And you the calendars of their nativity, 

Go to a gossips' feast, and go with me \ 

After so long grief, such nativity! 

Duke. With all my heart, I '11 gossip at this feast. 

[Exeunt all but Antipholus of S., Antipholus of E., 
Dromio of S., and Droinio of E. 
Dromio of S. Master, shall I fetch your stuff from ship- 
board? 
Antipholus of E. Dromio, what stuff of mine hast thou em- 
barked? 
Dromio of S. Your goods that lay at host, sir, in the Cen- 
taur. 410 
Antipholus of S. He speaks to me. — I am your master, 
Dromio. 
Come, go with us; we '11 look to that anon. 
Embrace thy brother there; rejoice with him. 

[Exeunt Antipholus of S. and Antipholus of E. 
Dromio of S. There is a fat friend at your master's 
house, 
That kitchen 'd me for you to-day at dinner; 
She now shall be my sister, not my wife. 

Dromio of E. Methinks you are my glass, and not my 
brother ; 
I see by you I am a sweet-fac'd youth. 
Will you walk in to see their gossiping? 

Dtomio of S. Not I, sir; you are my elder. 420 

Dromio of E. That 's a question ; how shall we try it? 



ACT V. SCENE I. 



97 



Dromio of S. We '11 draw cuts for the senior; till then 

lead thou first. 
Dromio of E. Nay, then, thus : 
We came into the world like brother and brother; 
And now let 's go hand in hand, not one before another. 

[Exeunt* 





Sing, siren (iii. 2. 47). 



OTE 



ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE NOTES. 

Abbott (or Gr.), Abbott's Shakespearian Grammar (third edition). 
A. S., Anglo-Saxon. 

A. V., Authorized Version of the Bible (1611). 

B. and F., Beaumont and Fletcher. 
B. J., Ben Jonson. 

Camb. ed., " Cambridge edition" of Shakespeare, edited by Clark and Wright. 

Cf. {confer), compare. 

Clarke, " Cassell's Illustrated Shakespeare," edited by Charles and Mary Cow den- 
Clarke (London, n. d.). 

Coll., Collier (second edition;. 

Coll. MS., Manuscript Corrections of Second Folio, edited by Collier. 

D., Dyce (second edition). 

H., Hudson (" Harvard" ed ). 

Halliwell, J. O. Halliwell (folio ed. of Shakespeare). 

Id. (idem), the same. 

J. H., J. Hunter's ed. of C. ofE. (London, 1873). 

K., Knight (second edition). ' ■ 

Nares, Glossary, edited by Halliwell and Wright (London, 1859). 

Prol., Prologue. 

S., Shakespeare. 

Schmidt, A. Schmidt's Shakespeare-Lexicon (Berlin, 1874). 

Sr., Singer. 

St., Staunton. 

Theo., Theobald. 

V., Verplanck. 

W., R. Grant White. 

Walker, Wm. Sidney Walker's Critical Examination of the Text of Shakespeare 
(London, i860). 

Warb., Warburton. 

Wb., Webster's Dictionary (revised quarto edition of 1879). 

Wore, Worcester's Dictionary (quarto edition). 

The abbreviations of the names of Shakespeare's Plays will be readily understood ; as 
T. N. for Twelfth Night, Cor. for Coriolanus, 3 Hen. VI. for The Third Part of Kitig 
Henry the Sixth, etc. P. P. refers to The Passionate Pilgrim ; V. and A . to Venus 
and Adonis 1 L. C. to Lover's Complaint ; and Sonn. to the Sonnets. 

When the abbreviation of the name of a play is followed by a reference to page, 
Rolfe's edition of the play is meant. 

The numbers of the lines (except for the present play) are those of the " Globe " ed. 
or of the American reprint of that ed. 



NOTES. 




We were encounter' d by a mighty rock (i. i. 101). 



INTRODUCTION. 

Meres's Mention of the Play. — The passage as given in our ed, 
of M. N. D. p. 9 was copied from one of the many reprints in the stand- 
ard editions of Shakespeare (we do not remember what one), and differs 
in some little points from the original, of which a lithographic fac-simile 
appears in Halli well's notes on the present play. We append it as it 
reads there, with some of the additional paragraphs : 

" As the Greeke tongue is made famous and eloquent by Homer, He- 
siod, Euripedes, Aeschilus, Sophocles, Pindar us, Phocylides and Aristoph- 
anes ; and the Latine tongue by Virgill, Ouid, Horace, Silins Italicus, 
Lucanus, Lucretius, Ausonius and Claudianus : so the English tongue is 
mightily enriched, and gorgeouslie inuested in rare ornaments and re- 
splendent abiliments by sir Philip Sidney, Spencer, Daniel, Drayton, 
Warner, Shakespeare, Marlow and Chapman. 



102 NOTES. 

As the soule of Enphorbus was thought to Hue in Pythagoras : so the 
sweete wittie soule of Onid hues in mellifluous & hony-tongued Shake- 
speare, witnes his Vemis and Adonis, his Lucrece, his' sugred Sonnets 
among his priuate friends, &c. 

As Plautus and Seneca are accounted the best for Comedy and Trag- 
edy among the Latines : so Shakespeare among y e English is the most 
excellent in both kinds for the stage ; for Comedy, witnes his Getleme 
of Verona, his Errors, his Loue labors lost, his Loite labours wonne, his 
Midsummers night dreame, and his Merchant of Venice: for Tragedy his 
Richard the 2. Richard the 3. Henry the 4. King John, Titus Androuicus 
and his Romeo and Inliet. 

As Epius Stolo said, that the Muses would speake with Plautus 
tongue, if they would speak Latin : so I say that the Muses would speak 
with Shakespeares fine filed phrase, if they would speake English. 

And as Horace saith of his: Exegi monumeutu cere perennius ; Re- 
galia ; situ pyramidii altius ; Quod nou imber edax ; A T on Aquilo impotens 
possit diruere ; aut intiumerabilis anno rum series <$° fuga temporum : so 
say I seuerally of sir Philip Sidneys, Spencers Daniels, Draytons, Shake- 
speares, and Warners workes; . . . 

As Piudarus, Anacreou and Callimachus among the Greekes ; and 
Horace and Catullus among the Latines are the best Lyrick Poets ; so in 
this faculty the best amog our Poets are Spencer (who excelleth in all 
kinds) Daniel, Drayton, Shakespeare, Brctto . , . 

As these Tragicke Poets flourished in Greece, Aeschylus, Euripedes, 
Sophocles, Alexander Aetolus, Achceus Erilhriceus, Astydamas Atheniesis, 
Apollodo7'us Tarseusis, Nicomachus Phrygius, Thespis Alliens, and Timon 
Apolloniates ; and these among the Latines, A ccius, M. A ttilius, Pompo- 
nius Secundus and Seneca : so these are our best for Tragedie, the Lorde 
Buckhurst, Doctor Leg of Cambridge, Doctor Edes of Oxforde, maister 
Edward Ferris, the Authour of the Mirrour for Magistrates, Marlow, 
Peele, Watson, Kid, Shakespeare, Drayton, Chapman, Decker, and Beuia- 
min Iohnsouy 

Plautus and Shakespeare. — The original argument of the Me- 
ncechmi\s thus translated by Warner (see p. 11 above) : 

"Two t\\ inborn sons, a Sicill merchant had, 
Menechmus one, and Sosicles the other: 
The first his father lost a little lad. 
The grandsire named the latter like his brother. 
This (grown a man) long travel took to seek 
His brother, and to Epidamnum came, 
Where th' other dwelt enrich'd, and him so like, 
That citizens there take him for the same : 
Father, wife, neighbours, each mistaking either, 
Much pleasant error, ere they meet together." 

Knight, after quoting it, remarks : " This argument is almost sufficient to 
point out the difference between the plots of Plautus and of Shakspere. 
It stands in the place of the beautiful narrative of ^Egeon, in the first 
scene of the Co?nedy of Errors. In Plautus we have no broken-hearted 
father bereft of both his sons : he is dead ; and the grandfather changes 



INTRODUCTION. 



103 



the name of the one child who remains to him. Shakspere does not stop 
to tell us how the twin-brothers bear the same name ; nor does he ex- 
plain the matter any more in the case of the Dromios, whose introduc- 
tion upon the scene is his own creation. In Plautus, the brother, Me- 
naechmus Sosicles, who remained with the grandsire, comes to Epidam- 
num, in search of his twin-brother who was stolen, and he is accompanied 
by his servant Messenio ; but all the perplexities that are so naturally 
occasioned by the confusion of the two twin-servants are entirely want- 
ing. The mistakes are carried on by the 'meretrix, uxor, et socer' (soft- 
ened by Warner into 'father, wife, neighbours '). We have ' Medicus,' 
the prototype of Doctor Pinch ; but the mother of the twins is not found 
in Plautus. We scarcely need say that the Parasite and the Father-in- 
law have no place in Shakspere's comedy. The scene in the Comedy of 
Errors is changed from Epidamnum to Ephesus ; but we have mention 
of Epidamnum once or twice in the play. 

" The Menaechmi opens with the favourite character of the Roman 
comedy — the Parasite ; the scene is at Epidamnum. The Parasite is 
going to dine with Mensechmus, who comes out from his house, upbraid- 
ing his jealous wife. But his wife is not jealous without provocation. 

1 Hanc modo uxori intus palam surripui ; ad scortum fero.' 

The Antipholus of Shakspere does not propose to dine with one ' pretty 
and wild,' and to bestow 4 the chain ' upon his hostess, till he has been 
provoked by having his own doors shut upon him. Our poet has thus 
preserved some sympathy for his Antipholus, which the Mensechmus of 
Plautus forfeits upon his first entrance. Mensechmus and the Parasite 
go to dine with Erotium (meretrix). Those who talk of Shakspere's 
anachronisms have never pointed out to us what formidable liberties the 
translators of Shakspere's time did not scruple to take with their origi- 
nals. Mensechmus gives very precise directions for his dinner, after the 
most approved Roman fashion : 

' Jube igitur nobis tribus apud te prandium accurarier, 
Atque aliquid scitamentorum de foro obsonarier, 
Glandionidem suillam, laridum pernonidem, aut 
Sinciput, aut polimenta porcina, aut aliquid ad eum modum.' 

This passage W. W. thus interprets: 'Let a good dinner be made for 
us three. Hark ye, some oysters, a mary-bone pie or two, some arti- 
chokes, and potato roots ; let our other dishes be as you please.' In 
reading this bald attempt to transfuse the Roman luxuries into words ac- 
commodated to English ideas, we are forcibly reminded how 'rare Ben' 
dealt with the spirit of antiquity in such matters : 

' The tongues of carps, dormice, and camels' heels, 
Boil'd in the spirit of sol, and dissolv*d pearl, 
Apicius' diet, 'gainst the epilepsy : 
And I will eat these broths with spoons of amber 
Headed with diamond and carbuncle. 
My foot-boy shall eat pheasants, calver"d salmons, 
Knots, godwits, lampreys: I myself will have 
The beards of barbels serv' d, instead of sallads ; 
Oil'd mushrooms,' etc. {Alchemist.W. 1). 



I04 NOTES. 

"The second act in Plautus opens with the landing of Menaechmus 
Sosicles and Messenio at Epidamnum. The following is Warner's trans- 
lation of the scene : 

' MencEcJnmis. Surely, Messenio, I think seafarers never take so comfortable a joy in 
any thing as, when they have been long tost and turmoiled in the wide seas, they hap at 
last to ken land. 

Messenio. I Ml be sworn, 1 should not be gladder to see a whole country of mine own. 
than I have been at such a sight. But I pray, wherefore are we now come to Epidam- 
num? must we needs go to see every town that we hear of? 

Mencechmns. Till I find my brother, all towns are alike to me : I must try in all 
places. 

Messenio. Why then, let 's even as long as we live seek your brother: six years now 
have we roamed about thus, Istria, Hispania, Massylia, lllyria, all the upper sea, all high 
Greece, all haven towns in Italy. I think if we had sought a needle all this time we must 
needs have found it, had it been above ground. It cannot be that he is alive; and to 
seek a dead man thus among the living, what folly is it ? 

Mencechmus. Yea, could I but once find any man that could certainly inform me of his 
death, I were satisfied ; otherwise I can never desist seeking ; little knowest thou, Mes- 
senio, how near my heart it goes. 

Messenio. This is washing of a blackamoor. Faith, let 's go home, unless ye mean we 
should write a story of our travail. 

Menceckmus. Sirrah, no more of these saucy speeches. I perceive I must teach you 
how to serve me, not to rule me. 

Messenio. Ay, so, now it appears what it is to be a servant. Well, I must speak my 
conscience. Do ye hear, sir? Faith, I must tell you one thing, when I look into the 
lean estate of your purse, and consider advisedly of your decaying stock, I hold it very 
needful to be drawing homeward, lest in looking your brother, we quite lose ourselves. 
For this assure yourself, this town, Epidamnum, is a place of outrageous expenses, ex- 
ceeding in all riot and lasciviousness : and (1 hear) as full of ribalds, parasites, drunk- 
ards, catchpoles, coney-catchers, and sycophants, as it can hold. Then for courtesans, 
why here's the currentest stamp of them in the world. You must not think here to 
scape with as light cost as in other places. The very name shows the nature, no man 
comes hither sine damno. 

Mencechjnns. You say very well indeed : give me my purse into mine own keeping, 
because I will so be the safer, sine daintio." 1 

" Steevens considered that the description of Ephesus in the Comedy 
of Errors, 

'They say, this town is full of cozenage. ' etc. 

was derived from Warner's translation, where ' ribalds, parasites, drunk- 
ards, catchpoles, coney-catchers, sycophants, and courtesans,' are found ; 
the zwhiptarii, potatores, sycophantce, palpatores, and meretrices of Plautus. 
But surely the 'jugglers," sorcerers," witches,' of Shakspere are not these. 
With his exquisite judgment, he gave Ephesus more characteristic ' lib- 
erties of sin.' The cook of the courtesan, in Plautus, first mistakes the 
wandering brother for the profligate of Epidamnum. Erotium next en- 
counters him, and with her he dines ; and, leaving her, takes charge of 
a cloak which the Menaechmus of Epidamnum had given her. In the 
Comedy of Errors the stranger brother dines with the wife of him of 
Ephesus. The Parasite next meets with the wanderer, and being en- 
raged that the dinner is finished in his absence, resolves to disclose the 
infidelities of Menaechmus to his jealous wife. The 'errors ' proceed, in 
the maid of Erotium bringing him a chain which she says he had stolen 
from his wife : he is to cause it to be made heavier and of a newer fash- 
ion. The traveller goes his way with the cloak and the chain. The 



INTRODUCTION. Io5 

jealous wife and the Parasite lie in wait for the faithless husband, who 
the Parasite reports is carrying the cloak to the dyer's; and they fall 
with their reproaches upon the Menaechmus of Epidamnum, who left the 
courtesan to attend to his business. A scene of violence ensues ; and the 
bewildered man repairs to Erotium for his dinner. He meets with re- 
proaches only ; for he knows nothing of the cloak and the chain. The 
stranger Menaechmus, who has the cloak and chain, encounters the wife 
of his brother, and of course he utterly denies any knowledge of her. 
Her father comes to her assistance, upon her hastily sending for him. 
He first reproaches his daughter for her suspicions of her husband, and 
her shrewish temper: Luciana reasons in a somewhat similar way with 
Adriana, in the Comedy of Errors ; and the Abbess is more earnest in 
her condemnation of the complaining wife. The scene in Plautus wants 
all the elevation that we find in Shakspere ; and the old man seems to 
think that the wife has little to grieve for, as long as she has food, clothes, 
and servants. Menaechmus, the traveller, of course cannot comprehend 
all this ; and the father and daughter agree that he is mad, and send for 
a doctor. He escapes from the discipline which is preparing for him; 
and the doctor's assistants lay hold of Menaechmus, the citizen. He is 
rescued by Messenio, the servant of the traveller, who mistakes him for 
his master, and begs his freedom. The servant going to his inn meets 
with his real master ; and, while disputing with him, the Menaechmus of 
Epidamnum joins them. Of course, the eclaircissement is the natural 
consequence of the presence of both upon the same scene. The brothers 
resolve to leave Epidamnum together; the citizen making proclamation 
that he will sell all his goods, and adding, with his accustomed loose no- 
tions of conjugal duty, 

'Venibit uxor quoque etiam, si quis emptor venerit.' 

" Hazlitt has said, 'This comedy is taken very much from the Me- 
ncEchmi of Plautus, and is not an improvement on it.' We think he is 
wrong in both assertions." 

The Period of the Action.— We believe that Hazlitt, Clarke (see 
p. 28 above), and others are wrong in assuming that the action of the 
play is laid in the old classical times. Knight's remarks on this subject 
also are so good that we cannot forbear quoting them : 

" We have noticed some of the anachronisms which the translator of 
Plautus, in Shakspere's time, did not hesitate to introduce into his per- 
formance. W. W. did not do this ignorantly ; for he was a learned per- 
son ; and, we are told in an address of 'The Printer to his Readers,' had 
'divers of this poet's comedies Englished, for the use and delight of his 
private friends, who in Plautus' own words are not able to understand 
them.' There was, no doubt, a complete agreement as to the principle 
of such anachronisms in the writers of Shakspere's day. They employed 
the conventional ideas of their own time instead of those which properly 
belonged to the date of their story ; they translated images as well as 
words ; they were addressing uncritical readers and spectators, and they 
thought it necessary to make themselves intelligible by speaking of fa- 



106 NOTES. 

miliar instead of recondite things. Thus W. W. not only gives us mary- 
bone pies and potatoes, instead of the complicated messes of the Roman 
sensualist, but he talks of constables and toll-gatherers, Bedlam fools, and 
claret. In Douce's Essay ' On the Anachronisms and some other In- 
congruities of Shakspere,' the offences of our poet in the Comedy of Er- 
rors are thus summed up : ' In the ancient city of Ephesus we have 
ducats, marks, and guilders, and the Abbess of a Nunnery. Mention is 
alsd~made of several modern European kingdoms, and of America; of 
Henry the Fourth of France,* of Turkish tapestry, a rapier, and a strik- 
ing-clock ; of Lapland sorcerers, Satan, and even of Adam and Noah. 
In one place Antipholus calls himself a Christian. As we are unac- 
quainted with the immediate source whence this play was derived, it is 
impossible to ascertain whether Shakspere is responsible for these an- 
achronisms.' The ducats, marks, guilders, tapestry, rapier, striking-clock, 
and Lapland sorcerers, belong precisely to the same class of anachro- 
nisms as those we have already exhibited from the pen of the translator 
of Plautus. Had Shakspere used the names of Grecian or Roman coins, 
his audience would not have understood him. Such matters have noth- 
ing whatever to do with the period of a dramatic action. But we think 
Douce was somewhat hasty in proclaiming that the Abbess of a Nunnery, 
Satan, Adam ^and Noah, and Christian, were anachronisms, in connection 
with the 'ancient city of Ephesus.' 

" Douce, seeing that the Comedy of Errors was suggested by the Me- 
ncechnii of Plautus, considers, no doubt, that Shakspere intended to place 
his action at the same period as the Roman play. It is manifest to us 
that he intended precisely the contrary. The Mencechmi contains invo- 
cations in great number to the ancient divinities ; — Jupiter and Apollo 
are here familiar words. From the first line of the Comedy of Errors to 
the last we have not the slightest allusion to the classical mythology. 
Was there not a time, then, even in the ancient city of Ephesus, when 
there might be an Abbess, — men might call themselves Christians, — and 
Satan, Adam, and Noah might be names of common use? We do not 
mean to affirm that Shakspere intended to select the Ephesus of Christi- 
anity — the great city of churches and councils — for the dwelling-place'of 
Antipholus, any more than we think that Duke Solinus was a real per- 
sonage — that 'Duke Menaphon, his most renowned uncle,' ever had any 
existence — or that even his name could be found in any story more trust- 
worthy than that of Greene's ' Arcadia-.' The truth is, that in the same 
way that Ardetines was a sort of terra incognita of chivalry, the poets of 
Shakspere's time had no hesitation in placing the fables of the romantic 
ages in classical localities, leaving the periods and the names perfectly 
undefined and unappreciable. . . . 

" Warton has prettily said, speaking of Spenser, 'exactness in his poem 
would have been like the cornice which a painter introduced in the 
grotto of Calypso.' Those who would define every thing in poetry are the 
makers of corniced grottos. As we are not desirous of belonging to this 
somewhat obsolete fraternity, to which even Warton himself affected to 

* Mention is certainly not made of Henry IV. ; there is a supposed allusion to him. 



IiVTRODUCTIOX. r 

belong when he wrote what is truly an apology for the Faerie Qitecne,we 
will leave our readers to decide — whether Duke Solinus reigned at Eph- 
esus before ' the great temple, after having risen with increasing splen- 
dour from seven repeated misfortunes, was finally burnt by the Goths in 
their third naval invasion ;' * or whether he presided over the decayino- 
city, somewhat nearer to the period when Justinian 'filled Constantino- 
ple with its statues, and raised his church of St. Sophia on its columns ;'f 
or, lastly, whether he approached the period of its final desolation, when 
the 'candlestick was removed out of its place,' and the Christian Eph- 
esus became the Mohammedan Aiasaluck. ... 

" The exceeding beauty and accuracy of scenery and dress in our days 
are destructive, in some degree, to the poetical truth of Shakspere's dramas. 
It takes them out of the region of the broad and universal, to impair 
their freedom and narrow their rage by a typographical and chronologi- 
cal minuteness. When the word ' Thebes ' % was exhibited upon a painted 
board to Shakspere's audience, their thoughts of that city were in subjec- 
tion to the descriptions of the poet ; but if a pencil as magical as that of 
Stanfield had shown them a Thebes that the child might believe to be a 
reality, the words to which they listened would have been comparatively 
uninteresting, in the easier gratification of the senses instead of the intel- 
lect. Poetry must always have something of the vague and indistinct in 
its character The exact has its own province. Let^Science explore the 
wilds of Africa, and map out for us where there are mighty rivers and 
verdant plains in the places where the old geographers gave us pictures 
of lions and elephants to designate undiscovered desolation. But let 
Poetry still have its undefined countries ; let Arcadia remain unsurveyed ; 
let us not be too curious to inquire whether Dromio was an ancient hea- 
then or a Christian, nor whether Bottom the weaver lived precisely at 
the time when Theseus did battle with the Centaurs." 

The Duration of the Action.— The action of the drama is all in- 
cluded in a single day, beginning with the "morning story" of yEgeon 
and ending in the afternoon soon after " the dial points at five " (v. I. 
118). Its progress is marked by many little references to the time of 
day which it is unnecessary to point out here. 



* Gibbon, chap. x. t Chandler. 

JSee Sidney's Defence of Poesy. "What child is there that, coming to a play, and 
seeing Thebes written in great letters upon an old door, doth believe that it is Thebes?" 
This rude device was probably employed in the representation of the Thebais of Seneca, 
translated by Newton, 1581. 




ao8 



NOTES, 




Scene I. — i. Solimis. The spelling of the name in the ist folio; al- 
tered in the second, probably by an accident, to " Salinus." The name 
occurs nowhere else in the play. 

We may remark here that the folios have indifferently Antipholus and 
Aiitipholis ; but that the former is the correct form is shown by the 
rhyme in iii. 2. 2,4. It is, of course, a corruption of the old Aiitiphihis. 
In the stage-directions of the folios the brothers are called Antipholus 
Erotes and Antipholus Sereptus. The surnames are doubtless errors for 
Errans (or Erraticus) and Surreptus, the latter being evidently derived 
from the Mencechmus Surreptus of Plautus, a character well known in 
the time of S. The Camb. ed. quotes Brian Melbancke's Philotimus, 
1582 : "Thou art like Menechmus Subreptus his wife," etc. 

4. I am not partial to infringe, etc. I have not the partiality, or lean- 
ing to one side, that would lead me to infringe, etc. 

8. Guilders. Dutch coin, here put for money in general. S. uses the 
word only here and in iv. 1. 4 below. 

9. Bloods. The plural used, as often, because more than one person 
is referred to. Cf. Rich. II. p. 206, note on Sights. 

n. Mortal. Deadly; as often. See Macb. p. 171. 

13. Synods. In every other instance of the word in S. it is applied to 
an assembly of the gods. See A. Y. L. p. 173. 

K. remarks here : " The offence which ^Egeon had committed, and 
the penalty which he had incurred, are pointed out with a minuteness 
by which the poet doubtless intended to convey his sense of the gross 
injustice of such enactments. In The Taming of the Shrew, written 
most probably about the same period as The Comedy of Errors, the 
jealousies of commercial states, exhibiting themselves in violent decrees 
and impracticable regulations, are also depicted by the same powerful 
hand : 

' Tranio. What countryman, I pray? 
Pedatit. , Of Mantua. 

Tranio. Of Mantua, sir? — marry, God forbid! 
And come to Padua, careless of your life ? 



X ACT I. SCENE I. IO g 

Pedant. My life, sir? how, I pray? for that goes hard. 

Tra?iio. 'T is death for any one in Mantua 
To come to Padua; know you not the cause? 
Your ships are staid at Venice ; and the duke 
For private quarrel 'twixt your duke and him, 
Hath publish' d and proclaim'd it openly.' 

At the commencement of the reign of Elizabeth, the just principles of 
foreign commerce were asserted in a very remarkable manner in the pre- 
amble to a statute (i Eliz. c. 13) : 'Other foreign princes, finding them- 
selves aggrieved with the said several acts'- — (statutes prohibiting the 
export or import of merchandise by English subjects in any but English 
ships) — 'as thinking that the same were made to the hurt and prejudice 
of their country and navy, have made like penal laws against such as 
should ship out of their countries in any other vessels than of their sev- 
eral countries and dominions ; by reason whereof there hath not only 
grown great displeasure between the foreign princes and the kings of 
this realm, but also the merchants have been sore grieved and en- 
damaged.' The inevitable consequences of commercial jealousies be- 
tween rival states — the retaliations that invariably attend these ' narrow 
and malignant politics,' as Hume forcibly expresses it — are here clearly 
set forth. But in five or six years afterwards we had acts ' for setting her 
Majesty's people on work,' forbidding the importation of foreign wares 
ready wrought, 'to the intent that her Highness's subjects might be em- 
ployed in making thereof.' These laws were directed against the pro- 
ductions of the Netherlands ; and they were immediately followed by 
counter-proclamations, forbidding the carrying into England of any mat- 
ter or thing out of which the same wares might be made ; and prohibit- 
ing the importation in the Low Countries of all English manufactures, 
under pain of confiscation. Under these laws, the English merchants 
were driven from town to town — from Antwerp to Embden, from Emb- 
den to Hamburg ; their ships seized, their goods confiscated. Retalia- 
tion, of course, followed, with all the complicated injuries of violence be- 
getting violence. The instinctive wisdom of our poet must have seen 
the folly and wickedness of such proceedings ; and we believe that these 
passages are intended to mark his sense of them. The same brute force, 
which would confiscate the goods and burn the ships of the merchant, 
would put the merchant himself to death, under another state of society. 
He has stigmatized the principle of commercial jealousy by carrying out 
its consequences under an unconstrained despotism." 

14. Syracusians. The folios all have " Siracusians " or " Syracusi- 
ans;" and Boswell says the form "has the sanction of-Bentley, in, his 
Dissertation on Phalaris.^ Pope changed it to " Syracusans." 

17. At Syracusian, etc. The folios have "any" before Syracusian ; 
probably an accidental repetition of the word. Pope was the first to 
omit it. The Camb. ed. follows Malone in retaining it, making Nay more 
a separate line, and joining be seen to the next. 

20. Confiscate. Confiscated. Cf. M. of V. iv. 1. 332, Cymb. v. 5.. 323,' 
etc. In 3 Hen. VI. iv. 6. 55, the 1st folio has "confiscate," the later fo- 
lios " confiscated." See also i. 2. 2 below. S. accents the word on either 
the first or second syllable, as suits the measure. 



IIO NOTES. 

For dispose^ disposal, cf. K. Johit, i. I. 263 : "Needs must you lay 
your heart at his dispose ;" and see our ed. p 138. For another sen^e 
(disposition, temper), see Oth. p. 170. 

22. Quit. Remit, release from ; as in M. of V. iv. 1. 381 : "To quit 
the fine tor one half of his goods," etc. 

To ransom. The later folios omit to. 

32. Speak my griefs unspeakable. Perhaps a reminiscence of Virgil, 
sEu. ii. 3 : " Infandum, regina, jubes renovare dolorem." 

34. By nature, etc. " Not by any criminal act, but by natural affec- 
tion, which prompted me to seek my son at Ephesus" (Mai one). Cf. 
Temp. v. 1. 76: " Expell'd remorse and nature;" Ham. i. 5. 81 : "If 
thou hast nature in thee, bear it not," etc. The Coll. MS. has " fortune " 
for nature. 

38. And by me too. The reading of 2d folio; the 1st omits too. Ab- 
bott (Gr. 480) makes our a dissyllable. 

41. Epidamnum. The folios have " Epidamium ;" corrected by Pope. 
Epidamnum is found in the English translation of the Mencechmi, 1595. 

42. The great care. For the the folios have "he ;" corrected by Theo. 
The later folios read : " And he great store of goods at random leav- 
ing." 

43. Embracements. Used by S. oftener than embraces. Cf. W. T. p. 
209, or T of S. p. 128. 

44. Mv absence was not six months old. Cf. ii. 2. 147 below : " In Eph- 
esus I am but two hours old." See also Ham. iv. 6. 15. 

52. As could not. That they could not. Gr. 280. 

By names. That is, by surnames, which were dropped when the broth- 
ers became separated. Clarke suggests that the twins at first had dif- 
ferent names, and that afterwards one of each pair, in remembrance of 
his brother, took his name. Cf. 128 below. 

54. Meaner. The 1st folio has "meane," the 2d "poor meane." Most 
modern eds. read " poor mean," but the poor two lines below is against 
the insertion of the adjective here. Meaner was suggested by Walker, 
and is adopted by Delius, D., the Camb. ed., H., and others. 

56. For. For that, because ; as often. Gr. 151. 

60. Alas too soon. Pope and Capell, followed by some editors, join 
these words to agreed. 

64. Instance. Sign, indication. Cf. R. of L. 1511 : "That blushing red 
no guilty instance gave ;" that is, no sign of guilt. See also T. G. of V. 
ii. 7. 70. 

70. Weepings. The reading of the 1st folio, changed in the 2d to 
" weeping." 

72. Plainiugs. Complainings, wailing. Cf. Rof L. 559: 

"but his heart granteth 
No penctrrble entrance to her plaining. ' 

Cce also Rich. II. p. 164. 

77. Sinking-ripe. Ripe for sinking, about to sink. Cf. " weeping-ripe " 
in L. L. L. v. 2. 274 and 3 Hen. VI. i. 4. 172. 

78. 77?,? latter-born, (/hanged by Rowe to " the elder-born," on account 



ACT I. SCENE I. I1X 

of 124 below. Clarke explains the text thus : " It seems, though the 
mother, 'more careful for the latter-born, had fastened him' to the mast, 
yet that she had herself become fastened to the other end where her elder 
twin-son was secured." The somewhat confused description, it is sug- 
gested, may have been intended " to give the effect of the confusion of 
the wreck." We suspect, however, that the poet, like Little Buttercup, 
"got those babies mixed." Mr. Crosby suggests that we should perhaps 
read "later-born," and that this may mean " later back in time," or elder. 
He compares Cymb. v. 1. T4: "To second ills with ills, each elder worse," 
where elder— later. If this emendation and explanation are not accepted, 
we must suppose, he thinks, " that the children became exchanged in the 
confusion during the breaking-up of the ship." 

84. On whom, etc. " In relative sentences the preposition is often not 
repeated" (Gr. 394). Cf. IV. T. iv. 4. 466: "To die upon the. bed my 
father died," etc. 

85. Either end the mast. For the omission of the preposition here, see 
Gr. 202. 

87. Towards. Usually monosyllabic in S., but sometimes dissyllabic, 
as here. In the latter case, the accent is variable. Gr. 492. Rowe 
changed Was to " Were." 

92. Amain. With main or force (as in " might and main "), vigorous- 
ly, swiftly. Cf. V. and A. 5 : " Venus makes amain unto him ;" Temp. iv. 
1. 74 : " her peacocks fly amain," etc. 

102. Upon. The 1st folio has "vp," to which the later folios add upon. 
Pope was the first to read borne upon. 

103. Splitted. Cf. 2 Hen. VI. iii. 2. 411 : "Even as a splitted bark." 
See also A. and C. v. 1. 24 and v. 1. 308 below. Elsewhere (as in Temp. 
v. 1. 223) the participle is split. Rowe changed helpful to "helpless." 

1 14. Healthful. Salutary, advantageous. The later folios have " help- 
ful." For shipwrack'd, see on v. i. 49 below. 

r22. Dilate. Relate, narrate. Cf. Oth. i. 3. 153: "That I would all mv 
pilgrimage dilate." 

123. BefalPn. Not elsewhere followed by of m S. We find it with 
to in M.for M. iii. 1. 227 and 2 Hen. VI. v. 3.33. 

124. My yoiuigest boy, etc. See on 78 above. 

126. Importuned. Accented on the second syllable, as regularly in S. 
Cf. Ham. p. 190. See also iv. 1. 2, 53 below. 

127. For. The reading of the 2d folio; the 1st has "so," which some 
retain. 

128. Reft. Cf. 115 above. For the present reave, see A. W. p. 178. 
For the ellipsis of the nominative in but retained, see Gr. 399. 

129. In the quest. Pope omitted the. Cf. i. 2. 40 below. 

130. Of. Out of, from. Gr. 168. The Coll. MS. reads "he labour'd 
of all." 

133. Clean. Quite, entirely. Cf. Sonn. 75. 10: "Clean starv'd ;" 2 
Hen. IV. i. 2. no : "not clean past your youth," etc. See also Josh. iii. 
17, Ps. Ixxvii. 8, Isa. xxiv. 19, etc. 

138. Timely. Early, speedy. Cf. Macb. iii. 3. 7 : "To gain the timely 
inn ;" and see our ed. p. 213. S. uses the adjective only twice. 



II2 NOTES. 

144. Disannul. Annul ; as in 3 Hen. VI. iii. 3. 81 : " Then Warwick 
disannuls great John of Gaunt." See also Job, xl. 8, Gal. iii. 15, 17, and 
Heb. vii. 18. The prefix is not negative, but intensive, as in dissever. 

146. The death. _ Death by judicial sentence; as often. Cf. M.N.D. 
i. 1. 65, Rich. II. iii*. I. 29, I Hen. IV. v. 5. 14, etc. 

150. Therefore, merchant, etc. A lame line, unless we accent merchant 
on the last syllable, which Abbott (Gr. 453) thinks doubtful. It does not 
help it much to accent therefore, as he suggests. The trochee is always 
awkward as the second foot of a line. 

151. To seek thy help by beneficial help. Pope changed the first help to 
"life," and H. adopts the emendation. But to seek a person' 's life meant 
then, as now, to seek to destroy it. Cf. M.for M. i. 4. 72 : " Doth he so 
seek his life?" See also M. of V. iii. 3. 21, iv. 1. 351, Lear, iii. 4. 172, 
Per. iv. .1. 90, etc. Steevens conjectures " means " tor the second help. 
Coll. reads " seek thy hope," and Sr. " seek thy fine." The repetition is 
quite 111 Shakespeare's manner,, and the meaning is, " I '11 give you the 
extent of this day to seek for aid by charitable assistance " (Clarke). 
Dr. Ingleby {Shakes. Hermeneutics, p. 26) remarks that a better example 
than this cannot be found of Shakespeare's " custom of using a word in 
different, senses twice in one line." Brae has suggested "hele" (heal) 
for help, but the latter is often equivalent to the former. See Lear, p. 240, 
note on Helps. 

154. If no. The reading of all the early eds., changed by Rowe to " if 
not ;" but the use of no is not unlike that in Temp. i. 2. 427 : " If you be 
maid or no," etc. 

156. Gaoler, take. Hanmer inserted "now" before take, and Capell 
gave " So, jailer." 

158. Lifeless. Spelt " liveless" in the early eds., as elsewhere. Schmidt 
suggests that lifeless end is "perhaps not the end brought on by death, 
but the end of his lifeless state, the end of his deathlike life." Procrasti- 
nate occurs nowhere else in S. 

Scene II. — 2. Lest that. For that as a " conjunctional affix," see Gr. 
287. 

4. Arrival. The 1st folio reads "a riuall." 

7. The 7veary sun. Steevens compares K. John, v. 4. 35 : " Of the old, 
feeble, and day-wearied sun ;" and Pick. III. v. 3. 19: "The weary sun 
hath made a golden set." 

9. Host. Lodge ; as in A. W. iii. 5. 97 : 

" Come, pilgrim, I will bring you 
Where you shall host." 

S. uses the verb only twice. 

13. Peruse the traders. "In other words, look into the shop-windows" 
(Clarke). Cf. 2 Hen. IV. iv. 2. 94 : 

"And, good my lord, so please you, let our trains 
March by us, that we may peruse the men 
We should have cop'd withal." 

See also Ham. p. 257. 



A C T I. SCENE II. j j - 

18. Mean. For the singular, cf. W. T. iv. 4. 89: 

"Yet nature is made better by no mean 
But nature makes that mean ;" 
and see also R. and J. p. 189. 

19. Villain Vassal, slave. ^Egeon had bought the Dromios (see i. 1 
56 above). Cf. Lear, p. 232. Malone cites R. of L. 1338 : " The homelv 
villain curtsies to her low ;" where a Roman slave is referred to. 

26. Soon at five o'clock. Sometimes pointed "soon, at ;" but it is now 
before ■ dinner-time" (see 11 above), which was at noon in the time of S 
60011 at five o'clock is explained by Malone 2,% = " nearly at five o'clock • 
either a little before or soon after that hour." Cf. iii. 2. i 7 [ below and 
see also 2 Hen. IV. p. 204, note on Soon at night. 

28. Consort you. Keep you companv. Malone wanted to read "con- 
sort with you " (cf. R. and J. iii. 1. 48), but in the same scene of R. and 7 
(135) we find " that didst consort him here." See also L.L. L ii 1 178- 
" Sweet health and fair desires consort your grace !" and 7C v 1 8t •' 

Who to Philippi here consorted us." * ' 

30. Myself. The later folios misprint " my life." 
nP's 5 W Ms fellow forth. That is, find him out, as we now say. Cf. 

t'S K' \ l 'l^ >" T °/ n / d * e other forth '" So >^ '/-out of (as in 
Temp. v. 1 160), fram forth = from out (as in K. John, iv. 2. 148) etc 

&. Confounds himself Is lost Cf. ii. 2. 124 fol. below. Confound is 
often -destroy, ruin (see Macb. p. 189), and some see that sense here, 
bt. reads Unseen inquisitive !" making inquisitive^ inquisitor 

40. Unhappy The 1st folio has "(vnhappie a)," and the Camb. editors 
conjecture "unhappier. " 

*ul 1 ' T \ alm T!L °( my trzie date ' " because they were both born in 
the same hour" (Malone). 

4fHow cha»ce. Cf. M. N. D. i. 1. 129 : " I low chance the roses there 
do fade so fast?" 2 Hen. IV. iv. 4 . 20: "How chance thou art not with 
the prince thy brother?" etc. 

JnL?\ rUCk A eU ; ■ ?' uses c for the participle struck (or strook), strucken (or 
stroken), and stricken. See Gr. 344. v 

49. Stomach Appetite. Cf. the play upon the word in M. of V. iii. c 
92; and see also T.ofS. p. 157. y**.m.> 

50. Having broke. S. uses broke and broken interchangeably. See Gr. 

iii &' A™ penitent That is, are doing penance. Cf the noun in A. W. 
in. 5. 97 : enjoin'd penitents." 

, 63. In post. That is, post-haste. Cf. It and 7 v. 3. 273 : « And then 
in post he came from Mantua," etc. In Rich. II.il 1.296, the 1st and 2d 
folios have "in post," the 3d and 4 th " in haste." We find "in all os '" 
m ^ tch - f { 1 ' '"■ 5- 73, and " all in post " in R. of L. 1 l 

64 I shall be post indeed. That is, like a post in a shop, on which ac- 
counts were scored, or marked with chalk or notches. Cf iHeuIVv 
r l- si? S n ° scoring but upon the pate." Halliwell quotes The 
Letting of Humors Blood, etc., 161 1 : quotes i he 

"He scornes to walke in Paules without his bootes. 
And scores his diet on the vitlers post " 

H 



3 



ii4 



A OTA'S. 



and Lord Cromwell: "Would thou would'st pay me -. a. good four pound 
is it ; I hav 't o' the post at home." 

66. Clock. The folios have "cooke" or "cook;" corrected by Pope. 
Halliwell cites Overbury, Characters: " onely the clocke of his stomacke 
is set to goe an houre after his " [that is, his master's] ; The Wandering 
Jezv, etc. : " but, sir, the clocke of my belly bids me tell you 't is noone ;" 
and The Passenger of Benvenuto : " the clocke of my stomacke strikes in- 
wardly, and importunately craves his due." 

73. Disposed. Disposed of. Cf. T. A. iv. 2. 173: "There to dispose 
this treasure," etc. 

75. The Phoenix. Private houses, as well as inns, often had distinctive 
names. See Olh. p. 158, note on Sagittary. 

76. Stays. Changed by Rowe to "stay ;" but this use of the singular 
verb with two singular nouns as subject occurs in passages where no 
misprint can be suspected. Cf. Cymb. ii. 4. 57: "my hand And ring is 
yours," etc. Gr. 336. See also ii. 2. 204 below. 

78. Bestoiv\i. Stowed, deposited; as in Te??ip. v. 1. 299: " Hence, and 
bestow your luggage where you found it," etc. 

79. Sconce. For the contemptuous use of the word ( = head), cf. ii. 2. 
34, 35 below. See also Cor. iii. 2. 99 and Ham. v. 1. no. 

82. Marks. The play upon the word is obvious. 

86. Will. The Coll. MS. has " would ;" but cf. Hen. VIII. \. 2. 134 : 

"that if the king 
Should without issue die, he '11 carry it so 
To make the sceptre his." 

See also Cor. p. 212, note on Thou '/. 

89. Fast. There is an obvious play on "fasting and prayer." 

92. Forbid. Used by S. oftener than forbidden. See on 50 above. 

96. d er-raught. Overreached, cheated. All the folios have " ore- 
wrought ;" corrected by Hanmer. Cf. Ham. iii. 1. 17 : 

" Madam, it so fell out that certain players 
We o'er-raught on the way." 

See also Spenser, F. Q. vi. 3. 50 : 

" Having by chaunce a close advantage vev/d, 
He over raught him," etc. 

97. This town is full of cozenage. This, as Warb. notes, was the an- 
cient reputation of Ephesus. See p. 104 above. 

99. Dark-working. Working in the night. Cf. 2 Hen. VI. i. 4. 18 : 

"wizards know their times: 
Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night," etc. 

It may mean working in secret, or by infernal agencies. Warb. changed 
it to " drug-working," and soul-killing to " soul-selling." Johnson con- 
jectured that Dark-working and Soul-killing should be transposed. 

102. Liberties of sin. " Sinful liberties" (Malone). Hanmer changed 
liberties to " libertines." 



ACT II. SCENE I. 



"5 




1 (W£C 



Scene I. — 1 1. C door. " Adore " in the first three folios, " adoor " in 
the 4th. 

12. ///. The reading of the 2d folio, and obviously required by the 
rhyme. The ist folio misprints "thus." 

15. Lastid. Scourged ; with perhaps, as Clarke thinks, a quibbling 
\ eference to the other sense (fastened, bound). " A learned lady," accord- 
ing to Steevens, conjectured " leaslrd," that is, "coupled like a headstrong 
hound." 

16. Situate. Cf. confiscate in i. 1. 20 above. 

17. His. Its ; as very often. Cf. no below, and see Gr. 217, 228. 

20. Men . . . masters. The folios have "Man" and "master," and 
" Lord" in the next line ; corrected by Hanmer. 

26. To keep. For the to after make, see Gr. 349, 350. 

30. Some other where. That is, in some other direction, or after some 
other woman. Cf. Hen. VIII. ii. 2. 60: " The king has sent me other 
where ;" and R. and J. i. 1. 204: " he 's some other where." See also 
104 below. H. adopts Johnson's conjecture of " other hare," and com- 
pares A. Y. L. iv. 3. 18: " Her love is not the hare that I do hunt ;" but, 
as the Camb. editors note, the old text seems to be confirmed by iii. 2. 7 
below: "Or if you like elsewhere, do it by stealth." However that may 
be, there is no reason for any change. Clarke remarks that "otherwhere 
gives the effect of 'other woman,' as in the next line home gives the effect 
of ' his own wife.' " 

32. Pause. " To pause is to rest, to be in quiet " (Johnson). Dodd 
paraphrases the passage thus: " No wonder, says he, patience, unaffected 
by any calamity, untouched by any grief, can pause for consideration, can 
have leisure to recollect herself, and in imagination exert her virtues." 

33. No other cause. "No cause to be otherwise" (Mason). 

34. A wretched soul, etc. Douce compares Much Ado, v. 1.20: 

"for, brother, men 
Can counsel and speak comfort to that grief 
Which they themselves not feel ; . . . 
... 't is all men's office to speak patience 
To those that wring under the load of sorrow." 



!X6 NOTES. 

39. Helpless. Affording no help, unavailing ; the most common sense 
in S. Cf. V. and A. 604 : " As those poor birds that helpless berries 
saw " (that is, painted berries) ; R. of L. 1027 : " This helpless smoke of 
words doth me no right;" Id. 1056: "Poor helpless help;" and Rich. 
III. i. 2. 13 : "the helpless balm of my poor eyes." The only other in- 
stances of the word are i. 1. 157 above and R. of L. 756. 

41. Fool-begged. Probably ^foolishly begged or demanded. Johnson 
says: " She seems to mean that patie nee which is so near to idiotical sim- 
plicity that your next relation would take advantage fromjt to represent 
you as a. fool, and beg the guardianship of your fortune." This seems 
desperately far-fetched, but H. and some others endorse it. Clarke par- 
aphrases the passage thus : " This patience so foolishly begged that I 
will practise, will by you be left unpractised." 

49. Beshrew. A mild form of imprecation. See M. A T . D. p. 152. 

Understand it. For the play upon the word ( — stand under), Steevens 
compares T. G. of V. ii. 5. 28 : " My staff understands me " (cf. the con- 
text). He might have added T. N. iii. 1. 89 : " My legs better understand 
me, sir, than I understand what you mean by bidding me taste my legs." 

53. Doubtfully. Capell remarks : " Some readers may not be aware 
that doubtfully squints at, — redoubtedly, manfully;" and Clarke says : 
"Dromio uses this word punningly in reference to two that it sounds 
something like — doughtily and redoubtably ; meaning valorously, formi- 
dably ;" but this seems to us rather doubtful. 

57. Horn-mad. "Mad like a wicked bull ; mostly used with a refer- 
ence to cuckoldom" (Schmidt). Cf. M. W. i. 4. 51, iii. 5. 155, and Much 
Ado,\. 1. 272. 

64. Home. Omitted in the folios ; supplied by Hanmer. 

73. Bare. Some follow Steevens in reading " bear." 

82. So round with you. " He plays upon the word round, which signi- 
fied spherical applied to himself, and unrestrained, ox free in speech or ac- 
tion, spoken of his mistress" (Johnson). For rounds plain-spoken, , cf. 
Ham. iii. 1. 191 : "let her be round with him" (see Id. iii. 4. 5) ; Oth. i.3. 
90 : "a round, unvarnish'd tale," etc. 

85. Case me in leather. " Still alluding to a foot-ball " (Steevens). 

87. Minions. Favourites; here used with a touch of contempt. Cf. 
Temp. iv. 1, 98 : " Mars's hot minion ;" and see our ed. p. 136, or Macb. 

P- T 53- 

88. Starve for a merry look. Malone quotes Sonn. 47. 3 : " When that 

mine eye is famish'd for a look ;" and Sonn. 75. 10 : " And by and by clean 
starved for a look." 

89. Took. The participle in S. is took, taken, or to 1 en. Cf. i. 1. 110 
above and iii. 2. 164 below. 

98. Defeatures. Disfigurement. Cf. v. 1. 300 below. See also V. and 

A °lZbi m .... 

"To mingle beauty with infirmities, 
And pure perfection with impure defeature." 

For fair = fairness, beauty, cf. V. and A. 1083 : " Having no fair to lose ;" 
Td. 1086 : " to rob him of his fair," etc. See also M. N. D. p. 130, note on 
Your fair. 



A CT II. SCENE I. ! j 7 

ioo. Deer. There is a play on deer and dear; as in V. and A. 231, M. 
W. v. 5. 18, 123, L. L. L. iv. 1. 115, T. of S. v. 2. 56, 1 Hen. IV. v. 4. 107, 
Macb. iv. 3. 206, etc. Johnson quotes Waller's poem On a Lady's Girdle? 

"This was my heaven's extremest sphere, 
The pale that held my lovely deer." 

101. Stale. This also is played upon, "as carrying out the metaphor 
of the pursuit of game by a stale, or pretence, and as referring to that 
which has become stale, flavourless, unpalatable " (Clarke). For staler 
decoy, bait, cf. Temp. iv. 1. 187 : " For stale to catch these thieves." See 
also T.ofS. p. 149. In the present passage, the reference may be to the 
stalking-horse (see A. Y. L. p. 199), behind which the sportsman ap- 
proached his game. Stale is used in this sense by Greene and B. J. 
Schmidt makes the word here — dupe, laughing-stock ; for which cf. T. of 
S. p. 134. It has that sense in the old translation of the Meneechmi: 
*'He makes me a stale and a laughing-stock." 

103. Can with such wrongs dispense. That is, can excuse or put up 
with them. H. says that " dispense seems to be used rather oddly, not to 
say loosely, here— in the sense of put up with;" but dispense with is often 
used as here in S. and other writers of the time. Cf. R. of L. 1070 : " And 
with my trespass never will dispense;" Id. 1279 : "Yet with the fault I 
thus far can dispense;" Id. 1704 : " May my pure mind with the foul act 
dispense?" Sonn. 112. 12 : "Mark how with my neglect I do dispense •" 
and M.for M. iii. i. 135 ! 

" What sin you do to save a brother's life, 
Nature dispenses with the deed so far 
That it becomes a virtue." 

See also Wb., where one of the definitions of dispense with is "to allow, 
to put up with," and the following is quoted from Milton: "conniving 
and dispensing with open and common adultery." 

104. Other where. See on 30 above. 

105. Lets. Hinders ; as in Ham. i. 4. 85 : "By heaven, I '11 make a 
ghost of him that lets me !" See our ed. p. 195. 

107. Alone, alone. The reading of the 2d folio; the 1st has "alone, a 
loue." Hanmer gave "alone, alas !" and Capell conjectured "alone O 
love."^ For the repetition, cf. R. of L. 795 : " But I alone, alone, must'sit 
and pine ;" K. John, iii. 1. 170 : " Yet I alone, alone, do me oppose," etc. 

109. Jezvel. "Any personal ornament of gold or precious stones" 
(Schmidt) ; a piece of jewelry. Cf. T. N. iii. 4. 228: " Here, wear this 
jewel for me, 't is my picture." In M. of V. v. 1. 224, it is-a rino-; in 
Cymb. 11. 3. 146, a bracelet, etc. The word was sometimes applied' to 
mere curiosities, that would not be included in anv list of jewelry nowa- 
days. Thus we read in Purchas his Pilgrimes, 1625 (quoted by Halli- 
well) : "They found a great dead fish, round like a porcpis, twelve feet 
long. ... It was reserved as a Jewell by the Queenes commandement, 
in her Wardrobe of Robes, and is still at Windsore to be seene." 

no. His. Its; as in 17 above. 

And though gold, etc. The passage is evidently corrupt in the folio 
where it reads thus : 



n8 NOTES. 

"yet the gold bides still 
That others touch, and often touching will, 
Where gold and no man that hath a name 
. By falshood and corruption doth it shame:" 

And though (or " and tho',"as he printed it) is Hanmer's reading. Theo. 
transposed^/ to the next line, and changed " Where " to Wear (as Warb. 
had proposed to do) ; and Heath suggested and so a man. This combi- 
nation of slight emendations, as adopted by Clarke and others, makes the 
passage intelligible, though we are by no means certain that it restores it 
to its original form. Of other proposed changes, the only one that is 
worth noting is Singer's " The triers' " for That others, ft is plausible 
enough in itself, but not absolutely necessary. "The tester's rt has also 
been suggested. W. reads, with Collier, "yet though" and "an often 
touching," leaving the rest unchanged, except the obvious correction of 
Wear for "Where." H. reads as in the text, except that he has "the 
triers' touch." 

Warb. paraphrases the passage thus : " Gold, indeed, will long bear 
the handling; however, often touching will wear even gold: just. so the 
greatest character, though as pure as gold itself, may in time be injured 
by the repeated attacks of falsehood and corruption." For the allusion 
to the touchstone as a means of testing the purity of gold, cf. K. Joh?/,\\\. 
I. ioo: 

"You have beguil'd me with a counterfeit 

Resembling majesty, which, being touch'd and tried, 

Proves valueless ;" 

and Rich. III. iv. 2. 8 : 

" Ah, Buckingham, now do I play the touch, 
To tiy if thou be current gold indeed!" 

See also I Hen. IV. p. 193, note on Must bide the touch. 

1 14. Since that. See on i. 2. 2 above. 

116. Fond. Doting. When the word does not mean simply foolish, 
it. often blends that meaning with the other. See M. N. D. p. 163. For 
fondly =(oo\\sh\y, see iv. 2. 57 below. 

Scene II. — 3. Is wander'd. Has wandered. See Gr. 295. 

4. By computation, etc. The Camb. ed. follows the folio in joining this 
line to what precedes. The editors generally adopt Rowe's pointing, as 
in the text. 

9. You know no Centaur ? " Dromio of Ephesus did not say that he 
knew no Centaur : the question was not put to him by Antipholus of 
Syracuse " (Coll.). 

15. Did not see you since. Cf. Hen. V. iv. 7. 58 : "I was not angry since 
I came to France," etc. Gr. 132, 347. 

24. Earnest. A play upon the word as applied to a partial payment 
made to bind a bargain. We have the same quibble in T. G. of V. ii. 1. 

163 : 

"Speed. No believing you, indeed, sir. But did you perceive her earnest? 
Valentine. She gave me none, except an angry word." 

See also W. T. p. 204. 



ACT II. SCENE I r. II9 

26. Because that. See on i. 2. 2 above. 

28. y^.f/ ?//<?«. Trifle with.- The reading of the early. eds., needlessly 
changed by IJ. (followed by H.) to "jet upon." For the latter, cf. T. A. 
ii. 1. 64, and see also Rich. III. p. 205, note on Jut. For jest upon, cf. T. 
N. iii. 1. 69: " He must observe their moods on whom he jests;" and T. 

of S. iv. 5. 72: . . 

or is it else your pleasure, 
Like pleasant travellers, to break a jest 
Upon the company you overtake?'' 

29. Make a common of my serious hows. "That is, intrude on them 
when you please. The allusion is to those tracts of ground destined to 
common use, which are called co7?imons' n (Steevens). Hanmer changed 
common to "comedy." 

32. Know 7)iy aspect. "Study my countenance" (Steevens); note 
whether I seem in the mood for it. Aspect is always accented on the 
last syllable in S. Cf. no below. Gr. 490. 

34. In your sconce. Into your skull. For the preposition, see Gr. 159. 
In his reply, Dromio plays upon the original meaning of sconce (a round 
fortification). 

49. Rhyme nor reason. The expression was an old one. Halliwell 
quotes, among other instances of it, Elyot's Dictionaries 1559 : " Absurdus, 
inconvenient, foolysshe, agaynst all rime and reason." 

61. Lest it make you choleric. Cf. T. of S. iv. 1. 173, where Petruchio, 
after throwing away the meat, says : 

"I tell thee, Kate, 't was burnt and dried away; 
And I expressly am forbid to touch it, 
For it engenders choler, planteth anger; 
And better 't were that both of us did fast, 
Since, of ourselves, ourselves are choleric, 
Than feed it with such over- roasted flesh." 

Ill the Glass of Humours, a choleric man is advised "to abstain from all 
salt, scorched, dry meats, from mustard, and such like things as will ag- 
gravate his malignant humours," etc. 

62. Dry basting. According to J. H., this means "a beating with a 
stick, or other weapon not designed to shed blood.' Cf. L. L. L. v. 2. 
263 : "all dry-beaten with pure scoff;" R.and J. iii. 1. 82 : "dry-beat the 
rest of the eight ;" and Id. iv. 5. 126: " I will dry-beat you with an iron 
wit." Schmidt defines dry-beat as "thrash, cudgel soundly." 

73. By fine and recovery. A quibbling reference to the old legal proc- 
ess so called. Steevens remarks: "This attempt at pleasantrv must 
have originated from our author's clerkship to an attorney. He has 
other jokes of the same school." Cf. M. W. iv. 2. 225. 

TJ. Excre??ient. In its etymological sense of outgrowth, like excrescence 
from the same Latin verb. See M. of V. p. 149, or Ham. p. 238. The 
word is applied to the hair or beard in five out of the six instances in 
which S. uses it. Fuller, in his Worthies of England, speaks of the hair 
as " the last of our excrements that perish." 

81. More hair than wit. This expression was proverbial. Malone 
quotes Parnassus Biceps, 1656: 



I20 NOTES. 

"To be like one who hath more haire than head; 
More excrement than body." 

Halliwell quotes the Banquet of Jests, 1657 : " One that was a great prac- 
titioner of physiognomie, reading late at night, happened upon a place 
which said hayrie men for the most part are dull, and a thick long beard 
betokened a fool. He took down his looking-glasse in one hand, and 
held the candle in the other, to observe the growth and fashion of his 
own, holding it so long, till at length by accident he fired it : whereupon 
he wrote on the margent, Probatum est " (that is, it is proved !). 

83. Not a man of those, etc. "That is, those who have more hair than 
wit are easily entrapped by loose women, and suffer the consequences of 
lewdness, one of which, in the first appearance of the disease in Europe, 
was the loss of hair " (Johnson). 

93. Falsing. Cf. Cymb. ii. 3. 74: "yea, and makes Diana's rangers 
false themselves;" where Schmidt thinks it may be an adjective. See 
also Spenser, F. Q. i. 2. 30 : " his falsed fancy ;" Id. iii. 1. 47 : " her falsed 
fancy," etc. In the Shep. Kal. May, we find falser=\\zx : "That of such 
falsers freendship bene fayne." H. adopts Heath's conjecture of "fall- 
ing." 

97. Trimming. The folios have " trying," which Pope took to be a 
misprint of tyring or tiring. The Coll. MS. has '"tiring." Trimming 
is Rowe's emendation, and is generally adopted. 

101. No time. The reading of the 2d folio ; the 1st has " in no time." 
Malone conjectured "e'en no time," which is a]so in the Coll. MS. Mr. 
Crosby defends the folio reading as the only one in which any quibble or 
joke is discernible : " Antipholus had said, ' There 's a time for all things.' 
This Dromio denies : 'There 's no ti?ne for a man to recover his hair that 
grows bald by nature.' Antipholus asks him to prove this ; and Dromio 
does it 'by fine and recovery.' The bald man 'pays a fine for a periwig,' 
and so 'recovers' his lost hair in no time. He quibbles on no time to do 
a thing and the idiom 'in no time'=in an instant." 

108.' Wafts. Beckons. Cf. M. of V. v. 1. 1 1 : 

" In such a night, 
Stood Dido with a willow in her hand 
Upon the wild sea banks, and waft her love 
To come again to Carthage;" 

where waft — wafted. See also T. of A. i. 1. 70: " Whom Fortune with 
her ivory hand waft's to her." In Ham. i. 4. 78 the folio has "wafts," 
the quarto "waves." In J. C. ii. 1. 246 we find wafture (" wafter " in the 
folio) = waving of the hand. 

113. That never words were music, etc. Malone remarks that tnis is 
imitated by Pope in his Epistle from Sappho to Phaon : 

"My music then you could for ever hear, 
And all my words were music to your ear." 

117. To thee. Omitted by Pope to avoid the Alexandrine. To carve 
to (or for) a person was considered a mark of affection. Halliwell cites 
Palsgrave, 1530: " Kerve this swanne, whyle I kerve to these ladyes ;" 



ACT II. SCENE II I21 

Heywood, Workes, 1577 : "Now carved he to al but her;" and Powell, 
Art of Thriving, 1635 : " to be carved unto by Mistris Dorothy." 
121. Incorporate. Cf. M.N. D. Hi. 2-. 208 : 

"As if our hands, our sides, voices, and minds 
Had been incorporate ;" 

and see our ed. p. 165. For the form, cf. consecrate, contaminate, and 
adulterate below. Gr. 342. 

124. Fall. Transitive; as often. See J. C. p. 169, note on They fall 
their cresls. 

130. licentious. A quadrisyllable. Gr. 479. 

131. Consecrate to thee. Cf. Sonn. 74. 6. "The very part was conse- 
crate to thee," etc. 

133. Spttm at. Cf. Ham. iv. 5. 6 : " Spurns enviously at straws." We 
find spurn against in K. John, iii. 1. 142, and spurn upon in Rich. III. i. 2. 
42. 

135. The stain' d skin, etc. Cf. R. oj I. 806 : 

"Make me not object to the tell-tale day! 
The light will show, character'd in my brow, 
The story of sweet chastity's decay, 
The impious breach of holy wedlock vow." 

There is an allusion to the old custom of branding criminals in the fore- 
head. Cf. Ham. iv. 5. 118: 

"brands the harlot 
Even here, between the chaste unsmirched brow 
Of my true mother." 

137. Deep-divorcing vow. The hyphen is not in the early eds., and 
Schmidt compares "deep vow" in R. of L. 1847 and "deep oaths" in 
Sonn. 152. 9, etc. But S. is fond of compounds with deep, and this is 
probably one of them. Cf. deep-contemplative {A. Y. I. ii. 7. 31), deep- 
premeditated (1 Hen. VI. iii. 1. 1), deep-revolving {Rich. III. iv. 2. 42), deep- 
searched (I. L. L.\. I. 85), deep-sweet ( V.and A. 432), deep-sworn {K. John, 
iii. I. 231), etc. 

143. Strumpeted. The word occurs again in Sonn. 66. 6 : " And maiden 
virtue rudely strumpeted." Steevens quotes Heywood, Iron Age, 1632: 
"By this adultress basely strumpeted." 

145. / live unstained, etc. The folio reads : " I Hue distain'd, thou 
vndishonoured." Theo. printed " dis-stain'd," giving the dis- " a privative 
force;" but elsewhere in S. (see R. of I. 786, Rich. III. v 3. 322, etc.) 
distain= stain. Heath conjectured "I live distained, thou dishonoured," 
and W. reads " thou one dishonoured." The real question is whether 
the line is closely connected with the preceding or not. If it is, we want 
unstained and undishonoured : Be true to your marriage vows, and we 
shall both be free from stain. On the other hand, if the line is not direct- 
ly dependent on the preceding, we should adopt the reading of Heath : 
Be true to your vows ; for now that you are untrue, we both are dishon- 
oured. We have no doubt that the former is the correct interpretation. 
The other makes the appeal in 144 a rather weak parenthesis, and the 
following line an equally feeble repetition of what has gone before. 



12 2 



NOTES. 



Heath's reading will bear the meaning " I live distained, thou being dis- 
honoured," or, as he puts it, "As long as thou continuest to dishonour 
thyself, I also live distained." The fact, however, that this arrangement 
of the clauses is more forcible than that in his proposed text, is, to our 
thinking, proof positive that his text is not Shakespeare's. It is not so 
bad, however, as "thou one dishonoured." Halliwell remarks that "very 
likely the n of .unstain\i was only half written with one stroke, this mis- 
take often occurring with the n and the u in MSS. of the period." 
. 147. Two hours old. Cf. i. 1. 44 above. 
150. Want. The folios have "Wants;" corrected by Johnson, per- 
haps unnecessarily. The Camb. ed. retains the old reading. 

156. This. The reading of 1st folio, changed in the 2d to "thus." 
160. Compact. Accented on the last syllable, as regularly in S. except 
in 1 Hen. VI. v. 4. 163. Cf. Gr. 490. 
, 166. Inspiration. Metrically five syllables. See on 130 above. 

169. In my mood. In my anger ; as in T. G. of V. iv. 1. 51, A. W. v. 2. 
5, Oth. ii. 3. 274, etc. 

170. Exempt. " Separated, parted. The sense is, If I am doomed to 
suffer the wrong of separation, yet injure not with contempt me who am 
already injured" (Johnson). " Adriana means to say, Add not another 
wrong to that which I suffer already ; do not both desert and despise 
me" (Malone). In the old play of King John, 1591, we find " Goe, 
cursed tooles, your office is exempt " (that is, taken away) ; and Coll. 
quotes Greene, Maiden's Dream : 

" I saw a silent spring, rail'd in with jeat, 
From sunnie shade or murmur quite exempt.'' 

171. Wrong not that wrong. Cf. R. of L. 943 : " To wrong the wronger 
till he render right." For the use of more, cf. V. and A. 78 : " with a 
more delight ;" K. John, ii. 1. 34: "a more requital to your love," etc. 

173. Thou art an elm, etc. Suggested by the ancient practice of train- 
ing the vine on the elm, so often alluded to by the classic Writers. Cf. 
Virgil, Eel. ii. 70: " Semiputata tibi frondosa vitis in ulmo est ;" and see 
also Geor. i. 2 and ii. 221. For the figure, cf. Catullus, 62. 54: "(vitis) 
conjuncta ulmo marito ;" Columella, II. 2. 79 : " ulmi vitibus maritantur," 
etc. Malone quotes Milton, P. L.x. 215 : 

" or they led the vine 
To wed her elm ; she, spous'd, about him twines 
Her marriageable arms, and with her brings 
Her dower, the adopted clusters, to adorn 
His barren leaves." 

174. Stronger. The reading of the 4th folio; misprinted "stranger" 
in the earlier folios. 

176. If aught possess thee from me. That is, so as to deprive me of 
thee, or to dispossess me. 

177. Idle. "That produces no fruit" (Steevens). Cf. Oth. \. 3. 140: 
"deserts idle" (that is, barren). See also Lear, p. 240; and cf. idleness 
in Hen. V. v. 2. 51 and Oth. i. 3. 328. 

179, Confusion. Ruin ; as often. Cf. M. N. D. i. I. 149: " So quick 



ACT II: SCENE II. l2 $ 

bright things come to confusion;" and see our ^d. p. 129. Cf. the use 
of confound— x\x\\\ (see on i. 2. 38 above). 

180. Moves. Addresses, appeals to. Cf. A. W. i. 2. 6 : 

" the Florentine will move its 

For speedy aid." 

See also Rich. III. iii. 7. 140, Hen. VIII. ii. 4. 209, 217, etc. The Coll. 
MS. (followed bv H.) has "means." 

183. Drives. 'The Coll. MS. has "draws." 

184. Know this sure uncertainty. That is, know this to be surely a 
thing uncertain. 

185. Offered. The folios have "free'd;" corrected by Capell. Pope 
reads "favour'd," and the Coll. MS. "proffered." 

187. O for my beads ! etc. " Dromio wishes for his rosary, to tell his 
beads, or say his prayers by, while he makes the sign of the cross against 
evil spirits " (Clarke). 

189. We talk, etc. The line is incomplete, and something has probably 
been lost. The 2d folio has " elves sprites." Lettsom conjectures 
" ghosts and goblins," and Rowe reads " elvish sprites," which many 
editors adopt. W. prints "owles, [elves,] and sprites," making " owles " 
(the folio spelling) a dissyllable. Theo. changed owls to "ouphs;" but 
owls have been associated with goblins of the night from the old classical 
times. Steevens quotes Spenser, Shep. Kal. June : " Nor elvish ghosts, 
nor gastly owles doe flee ;" and Cornucopia, 1623 : 

"Dreading no dangers of the darksome night. 
No oules, hobgoblins, ghosts, nor water-spright " 

Malone adds from The London Prodigal, 1605: "I am sure cross'd or 
witch'd with an owl ;" and A Fig for Fortune, 1596 : " No bug, no bale, 
nor horrid owlerie," etc. 

193. Sot. Dolt, blockhead (the Fr. sot) ; as elsewhere in S. See Temp. 
p. 132. So sottish= stupid, in A. and C. iv. 15. 79. For drone the folios 
have " Dromio ;" corrected by Theo. 

198. ' 7 1 is to an ass. As Dowden remarks in his Primer, this "looks 
as if when S. wrote the passage he were already thinking of his fairy- 
world ill M. N. D., of the pranks of Robin Goodfellow, and of Bottom's 
transformation to an ass." 

203. To put the finger in the eye and weep. That is, weep in a childish 
way. Cf. T.ofS.x. 1. 79: 

" A pretty peat ! it is best 
Put finger in the eye,— an she knew why." 

See our ed. p. 134. 

204. Laughs. Changed by Pope to "laugh." See on i. 2. 76 above. 
207. And shrive you, etc. "That is, I will call you to confession, and 

make you tell your tricks " (Johnson). 

209. Dines forth. That is, away from home. Cf. M. of V. ii. 5. 37 : "I 
have no mind of feasting forth to-night," etc. 

211. Am I, etc. Capell marks this speech as " Aside." 



124 



NOTES. 



212. Well-advis'd. That is, in my right mind. Cf. v. I. 214 below. 
See also Rich. III. p. 192. 

214. Persever. The only form of the word in S We find it rhyming 
with ever in A. W. iv. 2. 36, 37 : 

" Say thou art mine, and ever 
My love, as it begins, so shall persever." 

So perseverance is accented on the second syllable ; as in Macb. iv. 3. 93: 
" Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness," etc. Gr. 492. 




Scene I. — 4. Carcanet. Necklace. The word occurs again in Sonn. 
52. 8: "Or captain jewels in the carcanet." Steevens quotes, among 
other instances of the word, Histriomastix, 1610 : 

" Nay, I '11 be matchless for a carkanet, 
Whose pearls and diamonds plac'd with ruby rocks 
Shall circle this fair neck to set it forth." . 

Cotgrave, in his Fr. Diet., defines carcan as " a carkanet or collar of gold, 
&c. worne about the neck ;" and Coles, in his Latin Diet., renders car- 
kanet by monile. Elsewhere in the play, as in 114 below, it is called a 
" chain." 

8. Charged him with. Gave him in charge. 

15. Doth. Theo. thought it necessary to change this to "don't." " It 
appears," he says, " Dromio is an ass by his making no resistance ; be- 
cause an ass, being kicked, kicks again." Johnson replies to this : "He 
first says that his wrongs and blows prove him an ass ; but immediately, 
with a correction of his former sentiment, he observes that, if he had 
been an ass, he should, when he was kicked, have kicked again." 

28. Cates. Dainties. Cf. the play upon the word in T.ofS. ii. I. 190: 
" For dainties are all Kates." 

31. Ginn. The spelling of the folios, changed by Malone to "Jen'," 
by Coll. to "Gin'," and by D. to "Jin." It is commonly explained as a 



ACT III SCENE I. 125 

contraction of Jenny ; but, according to Halliwell, it is — Joan. Pope 
omits it. Gillian is given in Coles's Diet, as = Juliana. 

32. Motne. Buffoon ; from Momus. Halliwell cites Florio : " Capar- 
rone, a gull, a ninnie, a mome, a sot ;" Day, Blind Beggar of Bednal Green, 
1659: "momes and hoydons, that know not chalk from cheese;" and 
Mad Pranks of Tom Tram: "Old foolish doating raoam." For malt- 
horse as a term of reproach, cf. T. of S. iv. 1. 132 : "you whoreson malt- 
horse drudge!" See also 1 Heit. IV. p. 182, note on A brewer's horse. 
For capon, cf. Much Ado, v. 1. 156, and see our ed. p. 165. PaUh=ioo\ ; 
as in M of V. ii. 5. 46 (see our ed. p. 142), Temp. iii. 2. 71, Macb. v. 3. 15, 

etc. 

33. Hatch. A half-door; that is, a door of which the upper half can 
be opened while the lower half remains shut. See K. John, p. 136. 

42. Owe. Own ; as very often. See Rich. II. p. 204. 

45. Mickle. Much ; as in Hen. V. ii. 1. 70, K. and J. ii. 3. 15, etc. 

47. An ass. That is, the name of an ass. Cf. 15 above. The Coll. 
MS. reads "a face," which W. and H. adopt, though Coll. does not. 

48. Coil. Ado, " fuss." Cf. R. and J. ii. 5. 67 : " Here 's such a coil !" 
See Much Ado, p. 146, or M. N. D. p. 168. 

52. WheiL? canyon tell? "A proverbial inquiry indicating a jeer at 
the improbability that the person addressed will get what he asks" 
(Clarke). See 1 Hen. IV. p. 157, note on Ay, when ? canst tell? 

53. If thy name be called Luce. As the word luce meant a pike (cf. M. 
W. i. 1. 22: "The luce is the fresh fish," etc.), it has been suggested that 
there is a play upon pike, a spear, implying that she has given him a good 
thrust. 

54. I hope. Malone suggests that a line rhyming with this has been 
lost, and that the rhyming word was rope, with which he threatens her. 
This conjecture is favoured by the fact that he afterwards sends Dromio 
to buy a rope's-end to use upon his " wife and her confederates." Theo. 
changed hope to "trow," for the sake of the rhyme ; but, as Malone re- 
marks, the words were not likely to be confounded by either a transcriber 
or a compositor. Halliwell remarks that " the occurrence of a line with- 
out its corresponding rhyme, in comical doggerel dialogues of this de- 
scription, is not without precedent." Mr. Crosby suggests "know" for 
hope, and sees a quibble on the word in Dromio's " And you said no." If 
a change is to be made, " know " is better than " trow." 

67. Part. Depart; as in T. N. v. I. 394: "We will not part from 
hence," etc. See M. of V. p. 145. Warb. reads " have part." 

71. Your cake. The folios read "Your cake here;" corrected by Ca- 
pell. Perhaps, as Clarke suggests, there is here a quibbling allusion to 
the proverb "Your cake is dough," for which see T. of S. p. 135. 

Ache is spelt "ake" in the folio, as it was pronounced when a verb. 
The noun was pronounced aitch. See Temp. p. 119, or Much Ado, p. 

72. To be so bought and sold. " The meaning of this proverbial sen- 
tence is, that the person to whom it is applied is deluded and overreached 
by foul and secret practices " (Malone). See also K. John, p. 176. Hal- 
liwell cites Bacon, Henry VII: "All the newes ran upon the Duke of 



126 NOTES. 

Yorke, that he had been entertained in Ireland, bought and sold in 
France." 

86. Draw within the compass of suspect. That is, bring into suspicion. 
S. uses suspect as a noun some dozen times. See Rich. III. p. 188. 

88. Once this. " So much is certain " (Schmidt) ; " once for all " (Ste'e- 
vens). Cf. Cor. p. 231 (note on Once) ; and Much Ado, p. 125 (on 'T is 
once). 

92. Made. Changed by Pope to "barr'd;" but to make the doors is 
elsewhere=to fasten them. Cf. A. Y. I. iv. 1. 162 : " Make the doors 
upon a woman's wit, and it will out at the casement;" and see our ed 
p. 187. 

98. Passage. " Going to and fro of people " (Schmidt). Cf. Oth. v. i. 
2>7 : " What, ho ! no watch ? no passage ?" 

99. Vulgar. Public, general. 

100. Supposed. " Founded on supposition, made by conjecture " (John- 
son). 

101. Uugalled. Cf. Ham. iii. 2. 283 : 

" Why let the strucken deer go weep, 
The hart ungalled play. : ' 

104. Succession. A quadrisyllable. See on ii. 2. 130 above. The 
folios have housed 'in the next line, making possession also a quadrisylla- 
ble, for the sake of the rhyme. Steevens printed "hous'd where 't," but 
where it is metrically the same as where 7. The modern editors generally 
print "housed," which spoils the rhyme. With that reading it would be 
better to adopt Capell's conjecture of "upon its own succession." The 
2d folio has "hous'd where it once gets," etc. 

107. Mirth. Changed by Theo. to "wrath." Warb. explains the pas- 
sage thus: " I will be merry even out of spite to mirth, which is now of 
all things the most unpleasing to me." Heath says: "Though mirth 
hath withdrawn herself from me, and seems determined to avoid me, yet, 
in despite of her, and whether she will or not, I mean to be merry." 
Schmidt's explanation is : "I will defy mirth itself to keep pace with me ; 
I will outjest mirth itself." H. thinks he " probably means that, to spite 
the mirth his wife is having with another man, he will go and be merry 
with another woman." No one of these interpretations^ quite satisfac- 
tory, but that of Warb. is perhaps the nearest so. We doubt whether 
Antipholus really means anything more than that he will be merry out of 
spite, though he does not feel like it, or despises it ; and thus he is merry 
in despite of mirth. Cf. Much Ado, i. 1. 237 : " Thou wast ever an obsti- 
nate heretic in the despite of beauty ;" that is, in despising or hating 
beauty. 

H5- Porpentine. Porcupine ; the only name for the animal in S. Cf. 
Ham. i. 5. 20: " Like quills upon the fretful porpentine." There, as here, 
the editors generally substitute "porcupine." Cf. Ascham, Toxophilus: 
"nature gave example of shootinge first by the porpentine," etc. 

121. Hour. A dissyllable; as often in S. See Gr. 480. 

Scene II. — 3. Love-springs. That is, the shoots or buds of love; the 



ACT III. SCENE II. I2 y 

metaphor being thai of a plant, not springs of water. Cf. V. and A. 656: 
"The canker that eats up love's tender spring;" and R. of L. 950: "To 
dry the old oak's sap and cherish springs." 

4. Building . . . ruinous. The folios have "buildings . . . ruinate; 1 ' 
corrected by Theo. and Capell. For the figure, cf. T. G. of V. v. 4. 9 : 

"O thou, that dost inhabit in my breast, 
Leave not the mansion so long tenantless, 
Lest, growing ruinous, the building fall ;" 

T. and C. iv. 2. 109: "the strong base and building of my love;" and 
Sonn. 119. 12 : 

" And ruin'd love, when it is built anew, 
Grows fairer than at first, more strong, far greater." 

11. Become disloyalty. "Render disloyalty becoming bv some show 
of loyalty " (Clarke). 

15. What. Equivalent to why, as often with need. Cf. Gr. 253. 

16. Attaint. Disgrace. Cf. T. and C. i. 2. 26 : "there is no man hath 
a virtue that he hath not a glimpse of, nor any man an attaint but he 
carries some stain of it." 

18. At board. At table. For the omission of the article after prepo- 
sitions, see Gr. 90. 

19. Shame hath a bastard fame, well inanaged. Shame, if well man- 
aged, gets a spurious reputation — a respectability not legitimately its 
own. 

21. But. The folios have "not ;" corrected by Theo. 

22. Compact of credit. " Made altogether of credulity " (Steevens). 
Cf. V. and A. 149 : " Love is a spirit all compact of fire ;" A. Y. Z. ii. 7. 
5 : " If he, compact of jars, grow musical ;" AI. A T . D. v. 1. 8 : " of imag- 
ination all compact," etc. 

26. Wife. The 1st folio misprints "wise." 

27. Vain. "Light of tongue, not veracious" (Johnson). 

30. Hit of. Hit on, guess at. Cf. M. W. iii. 2. 24 : "I can never hit on 
's name." Gr. 175. 

34. Conceit. Conception, comprehension. Cf. R. of L. 701 : 

" O, deeper sin than bottomless conceit 
Can comprehend in still imagination !" 

See also A. Y. I. pp. 162 and 194. 

36. Folded. Wrapped up, concealed. Cf. R. of L. 1073 : "Nor fold 
my fault in cleanly-coin'd excuses." See also Id. 675. 

43. A r or . . . 710. For the double negative, cf. iv. 2. 7 below : "First, 
he denied you had in him no right," etc. Gr. 406. 

44. Decline. Apparently = incline, as Clarke and. D. make it. The 
latter aptly quotes Greene," Be7telope's Web, 1601 : "That the loue of a fa- 
ther, as it was royall, so it ought to be impartial], neither declining to the 
one nor to the other, but as deeds doe merite." Malone explained it 
"fall off, or decline from her to you ;" but he has just denied any tie or 
attachment to Adriana. The Coll. MS. reads " incline," 

45. Train. Draw, entice ; as in L. L. L. i. I. 71 : 



128 NOTES. 

" These be the stops that hinder study quite, 
And train our intellects to vain delight." 

See also I Hen. IV. p. 198. 

Mermaid— siren (see 47 just below) ; the only sense in which S. uses 
the word. Cf. V. and A. 429 : " Thy mermaid's voice hath done me 
double wrong ;" Id. 777 : " Bewitching like the wanton mermaid's song ;" 
R. of L. 141 1 : "As if some mermaid did their ears entice," etc. See 
also 161 below. Halliwell cites Bartholomceus de Prop. Rerum, 1535 : 
" The mermayden hyghte sirena is a see beaste wonderly shape, and 
draweth shypmen to peryll by swetenes of songe." 

46. Sister. The 2d folio has "sister's," which some editors adopt. 

48. Hairs. For the plural, cf. M.ofV. iii. 2. 120 : 

here in her hairs 
The painter plays the spider," etc. 

We find golden hairs again in V. and A. 51. Cf. L. L. L. iv. 3. 142 : " her 
hairs were gold," etc. 

49. Bed. The reading of the 2d folio ; the 1st has "bud," which Stee- 
vens thought possibly right. St. reads "bride," retaining "thee," which 
the folios all have for them D. gave this reading in his 1st ed., but in 
the 2d has bed and them, which are generally adopted. Them is Capell's 
reading, suggested by Edwards. 

52. Let Love, being light, be drowned if she sink. The line has troubled 
some of the critics, and H. adopts Badham's conjecture of "Let Love be 
light, being drowned," etc. But Love (that is, Venus) is assumed to be 
light ; as in V. and A. 149 : 

" Love is a spirit, all compact of fire, 
Not gross to sink, but light, and will aspire." 

The line, as we understand it, is simply an emphatic, though indirect, 
way of saying that she is in no danger of sinking: Let her be drowned if 
she sink, but being light, she cannot sink. For Love= Venus, or love per- 
sonified, Malone compares the passage just quoted from V. and A. and 
A. and C.\. 1. 44 : " Now, for the love of Love, and her soft hours." See 
also R. and f. ii. 5. 7 : " Therefor.e do nimble-pinion'd doves draw Love " 
(cf. Temp. iv. 1. 94 and V. and A. 1190): L. L. L. iv. 3. 380: "Forerun 
fair Love, strewing her way with flowers," etc. Possibly there is a sport- 
ive play on light (=: wanton), as in M. of V. v. I. 129 : 

" Let me give light, but let me not be light, 
For a light wife doth make a heavy husband." 

See also Id. ii. 6. 42, iii. 2. 91, L. L. L. v. 2. 26, etc. 

54. Mated. Confused, bewildered ; with a play upon the idea of being 
mated, or given as a mate to Adriana, though he does not know how. 
Cf. v. 1. 282 below. See also Macb. p. 247. 

58. Wink. Shut the eyes ; as often. Cf. Sonn. 43. 1 : 

"When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see: 
For all the day they view things unrespected ; 
But when I sleep, in dreams they look on thee 
And darkly bright are bright in dark directed ;" 

Temp. ii. I. 216 : 



ACT III. SCENE II. 



"Thou let'st thy fortune sleep — die, rather; wink'st 
Whiles thou art waking," etc. 



129 



64. My sole earth's heaven, etc. ' " All the happiness that I wish on 
earth, and all that I claim from heaven hereafter " (Malone). 

66. Aim. The folios have "am ;" changed by Pope to "mean." Am 
is Capell's emendation, and is almost unanimously adopted by the edi- 
tors, though no other example of this transitive use (—aim at) occurs in 
S. Steevens cites Orlando Furioso, 1594: 

"like Cassius, 
Sits sadly dumping, aiming Cassar's death ;" 

and Drayton, Robert Duke of Normandy : " I make my changes aim one 
certain end." Mr. Crosby thinks there may be a play on the Fr. " je vous 
aime," I love you. J. H. retains "am," and says: " Antipholus means 
that he is one with, or exists in, Luciana, as much as if she and her sister 
were one." 

77. Besides. For the prepositional use, cf. T. N. iv. 2. 92: "Alas, sir, 
how fell you besides your five wits?" See our ed. p. 158, or Gr. 34. 

91. Sir-reverence. A corruption of "save reverence " (salva reveren- 
tia), used as an apology for referring to any thing unseemly. See R. and 
J. p. 155. Gifford quotes an old tract on the origin of tobacco : "The 
time hath been, when, if we did speak of this loathsome stuff, tobacco, we 
used to put a 'sir-reverence' before ; but we forget our good manners." 
Halliwell quotes Taylor the Water-Poet. Workes, 1630 : 

" There 's nothing vile that can be done or spoke, 
But must be covered with Sir Reverence cloake." 

99. Poland. Changed by Warb. to " Lapland." 

100. Week. It is barely possible that there is a play on wick, which 
was pronounced like zveek. Halliwell quotes Cotgrave, Wifs Interpre- 
ter ' 

" Here lies a tallow-chandler, I need not tell it, 

If your nose be not stopt, you may easily smell it ; 

Then, gentle reader, herein learn you may. 

He that made many weeks, cann't make one day." 

103. Swart. Swarthy, dark. See K. John, p. 152. We have "swart- 
complexion'd" in Sonn. 28. II. 

104. For why. The folio points " for why ?" but, as D. notes, the com- 
bination is here, as in sundry other places (see Rich. II. p. 208), practi- 
cally^because, or, as Abbott puts it (Gr. 75), " wherefore ? (because)." We 
have no doubt that this usage grew directly out of the ordinary interrog- 
ative one. Abbott compares the similar change in the Latin quid enitn ? 

1 10. Her name and three quarters. The folios have " is " for and ; cor- 
rected by Theo. at the suggestion of Thirlby. Coll. reads : "but her 
name is three quarters, that is, an ell ; and three quarters," etc. 

121. Reverted. Turned back. Schmidt thinks there may be a play 
upon the sense of "fallen to another proprietor." W. reads "revolted." 

In making war against her heir, there is a play on heir and hair, with 
an allusion to the war against Henry of Navarre, the heir of Henry III. 
of France. " Mistress Nell's brazen forehead seemed to push back her 

I 



1 -, Q NOTES. 

rough and rebellious hair, as France resisted the claim of the Protestant 
heir to the throne " (Clarke). Cf. p. 10 above. For the pun, cf. Davies, 

Scourge of Folly : 

" Yet talks he but of heads and heires apparant, 
Though his owne head has not one haire apparant." 

124. The chalky cliffs. Those on the southern coast of England. Cf. 
2 Hen. VI. iii. 2. 101 : 

"As far as I could ken thy chalky cliffs, 
When from thy shore the tempest beat us back," etc. 

128. Hot in her breath. Malone is doubtful whether this is an allusion 
to "the fiery threats which Spain had recently used towards England 
when she sent out her Invincible Armada," or merely to the heat of her 
climate. . 

130. America. Of course the anachronism is very palpable, whatever 
may have been the intended epoch of the play ; but it was enough for S. 
that his audience would understand the allusion. Cf. p. 105 above. 

133. Armadoes of caracks. Fleets of large ships. For armado, cf. K. 
John, iii. 4. 2 : "A whole armado of convicted sail ;" and for carack, Oth. 
i. 2. 50: "he to-night hath boarded a land carack." See also B. and F., 
Coxcomb: "They 're made like caracks, all for strength and stowage." 
Halliwell cites Florio : " Caracca, a kinde of great ship, in Spaine called 
a carricke ;" and Elyot, Diet. : " Bucentaurtts, a great shyppe or carrike." 

134. Ballast. Ballasted, or loaded. It would appear to be a contract- 
ed form, like heat {K. John, iv. 1. 61), etc. ; but Malone may be right in 
deriving it from the obsolete balace or balass, both of which are given by 
Wb. So hoist may be from hoise (see Ha?n. p. 241), and graft is certainly 
from graff (see Rich. III. p. 219), though Abbott (Gr. 342) gives both 
among contracted participles. Halliwell cites Greene, Orlando Furioso, 
1594 : "and sent them home, ballast with little wealth ;" and Taylor the 
Water- Poet, Workes : "well rigg'd and ballac'd both with beere and 
wine." We find "disbalased" (=unloaded) in Nash's Have with You, 
etc.; and "unballac'd" in Hall's Satires and Powell's Love's Leprosie, 
1598. 

135. Belgia. Cf. 3 Hen. VI. iv. 8. I : " Edward from Belgia," etc. 

136. Low. For the play on Low Countries, cf. Archee's Jests (quoted 
by Halliwell): "Two Dutchmen, the one very tall, and the other of ex- 
ceeding low stature, walking together in the street, a pleasant gentleman, 
seeing them, said to his friend, — See, yonder goe together High Germany 
and the Low Countries." 

137. Diviner. Sorcerer. "Dromio, like his master, thinks he has got 
among witches ; women capable of working spells, and transforming him 
to a turnspit dog" (Clarke). 

138. Assured. Affianced ; as in K. John, ii. 1. 535 : " when I was first 
assur'd." 

140. That. So that ; as in v. 1. 140 below. Gr. 283. 

142. Faith. "Alluding to the superstition of the common people, that 
nothing could resist a witch's power of transforming men into animals 
but a great share of faith : however, the Oxford editor [Hanmer] thinks 



ACT III. SCENE II. I3I 

a breast of flint better security; and he therefore puts it in" (Warb.). 
H. adopts " flint," partly on account of " the discord between faith and 
steel f but we must not criticise Dromio's doggerel too severely. 

143. Curtal. Having a docked tail. Cf. M. W. ii. 1. 114 : " Hope is a 
curtal dog in some affairs " (such a dog being considered unfit for the 
chase). See also A. W. p. 152. 

Turn z' the wheel alludes of course to the use of dogs as turnspits. 
Halliwell devotes three pages of his folio ed. to the illustration of this 
subject. Machines or jacks for turning the spit, moved by weights like 
a clock, had been invented in the time of S. We find them mentioned 
as early as 1585 in the Nomenclator of Adrianus Junius: " automatarius 




Brome's Antipodes, 1640, mention is made of a project "for putting downe 
the infinite use of jacks, whereby the education of young children, in turn- 
ing spits, is greatly hindered." Dogs were early used for this purpose. 
Topsell, in his Hist, of Four- Footed Beasts, 1607, says: "There is com- 
prehended, under the curres of the coursest kinde, a certaine dogge in 
kitchen service excellent ; for when any meat is to be roasted, they go 
into a wheel, which they turning round about with the waight of their 
bodies, so diligently looke to their businesse, that no drudge nor scullion 
can do the feate more cunningly." 

144. Presently. Immediately; as in iv. 1,32 and v. 1. 31 below. 
Road=poxt, haven ; as in M. of V. i. 1. 9, v. 1. 288, etc. 

160. To self wrong. Pope changed to to " of;" but cf. W. T. iv. 4. 549 : 

"But as the unthought-on accident is guilty 
To what we wildly do," etc. 

Halliwell cites Dekker, Guls Hombooke : " by being guilty to their abbom- 
inable shaving;" and Birch, Reign of Elizabeth: "and am not guilty to 
myself of any bad dealing in this information." 

161. Mermaid 's song. See on 45 above. 
167. What please. What may please. 

177. Vain. Foolish, silly ; as in 2 Hen. IV. v. 5. 48; etc. 

178. So fair an offered chain. For the transposition of the article, cf. 
K. John, iv. 2. 27: "So new a fashion'd robe;" Temp. iv. 1. 123: "So 
rare a wonder'd father," etc. Gr. 422. 




132 



NOTES. 




Scene i. — 2. Importuti 'd. See on i. 1. 126 above, and cf. 53 below. 

4. Guilders. See on i. 1. 8 above. 

5. Satisfaction. Metrically five syllables. See on ii. 2. 130 above. 

6. Attach. Arrest ; as in 73 and iv. 4. 6 below. It was a legal term. 
See R. and J. p. 217, or Rich. IT. p. 186. 

8. Growing. Accruing, becoming due. Cf. iv. 4. 119, 132 below. - 
12. Pleaseth you. If it please you. Cf. 2 Hen. IV. iv. I. 225, iv. 2. 52, 
Hen. V. v. 2. 78, etc. See M. of V. p. 136 (on Pleaseth me), or Gr. 361. 

16. Bestow. Employ, use. Cf. T. and C. ii. 2. 159 : " Whose life were 
ill bestow'd," etc. 

17. Her. The folios have "their ;" corrected by Rowe. 

21. I buy a thousand pound a year ! On the face of it, there seems to 
be nothing in this but an exclamation of surprise at being sent to buy so 
strange a thing; but, as Clarke remarks, "there may have been some 
point of allusion obvious at the time when the play was first acted, though 
now lost." He adds that perhaps Dromio "means to hint that in pur- 
chasing a rope's end he may be providing for himself a heavy revenue of 
future thwacks ;" but this is very doubtful. Possibly Hailiwell is right 
in taking it to mean " a rope worth a thousand a year for your purpose." 
He compares 3 Hen. VI. ii. 2. 144: 

"A wisp of straw were worth a thousand crowns, 
To make this shameless callet know herself." 

Mr. Crosby suggests that "the connecting thought-link in the slave's re- 
vengeful mindbetween a rope's end and a thousand pound a year is in the 
ability of each for payment in its quibbling sense of punishment." Cf. iv. 
4. 10 below. 

F or pound as a plural, cf. Rich. II. ii. 2. 91, and see our ed. p. 182. 

22. Holp. The form of the past tense regularly used by-S. except in 
Rich. III. v. 3. 167 and Oth. ii. 1. 138, where we find helped. As the par- 
ticiple it occurs ten times, helped only four times. We find holpen in Ps. 
lxxxiii. 8, Dan. xi. 34, Luke, i. 54, etc. Cf. Gr. 343. Hailiwell says that 
holp up is still provincial, especially in an ironical sense, as here. 

25. Belike. It is likely, probably ; as in iv. 3. 85 below. 



ACT IV. SCENE I. I33 

28. Carat. Spelt " charect " in the 1st folio (misprinted "Raccat" in 
the later folios), and "charract" in 2 Hen. IV. iv. 5. 162, the only other 
instance of the word in S. See our ed. p. 194. 

29. Chargeful. Expensive ; used by S. only here. The same is true 
of debted (— indebted) in 31. 

32. Discharged. Paid. For its application to the creditor, cf. iv. 4. 
117 below. See also M. of V. iii. 2. 276: "The present money to dis- 
charge the Jew," etc. In 13 above it is used in the modern way. 

39. I will, etc. " 1 will, instead of I shall, is a Scotticism, says Douce 
(an Englishman) ; it is an Irishism, says Reed (a Scotsman) ; and an an- 
cient Anglicism, says Malone (an Irishman)" (K.). 

41. Time enough. Changed by Hanmer to "in time." 

46. Stays. Changed by Pope to "stay;" but cf. i. 2. 76 and ii. 2. 204 
above. 

53. Importunes. See on 2 above. 

56. Send me by some token. The reading of the folios, retained by 
Coll., D., St., K., W., the Camb. ed., and others. H. adopts Heath's con- 
jecture of" by me," which is also in the Coll. MS. The form in the text 
appears to have been an idiom of the time, used in cases like this as well 
as in those which some of the editors confound with it; as, for instance, 
the following from Marston, Dutch Courtesan, iii. 1 : 

" Mrs. Mulligrub. By what token are you sent ? — by no token ? Nay, I have wit. 
Cockiedenioy. He sent me by the same token that he was dry shaved this morning." 

57. You run this humour out of breath. As Coll. notes, this was a 
proverbial expression. John Day wrote a comedy under the title of 
Humour out of Breath, which was printed in 1609. 

60. Whether. Printed " wh'er " in the early eds., as in some ten other 
instances ; but it is often monosyllabic when printed whether (Af. AT. D. 
iii. 1. 156, iii. 2. 81, M. of V. v. 1. 302, Ham. ii. 2. 17, etc.). Cf. Gr. 466. 
Pope reads " if." 

62. What should I, etc. The later folios substitute " why " for what. 
The latter is often equivalent to the former; as in 2 Hen. IV. i. 2. 129: 
"What tell you me of it?" etc. See also on iii. 2. 15 above. In the 
present passage, however, what has its ordinary sense. 

68. Stands upon. Concerns ; as in Lear, v. 1. 69 : 

"for my state 
Stands on me to defend, not to debate." 

See our ed. p. 252, or Ham. p. 269. Cf. Gr. 204. 

73. Attach. See on 6 above. 

74. Thee. Omitted in the later folios, and changed to "for" by 
Rowe. 

78. Apparently. Evidently. This is the only instance of the adverb 
in S., but apparent is often — evident, obvious. See K. John, p. 165, or 
Rich. II. p. 1 50. 

81. Buy this sport as dear. Cf. M. N. D. iii. 2. 426 : " Thou shalt buy 
this dear," etc. The expression is not to be confounded with that in 
M. N. D. iii. 2. 175 : " Lest, to thy peril, thou aby it dear." See our ed. 
p. 165, and cf. p. 171 (on Buy). 



I3 4 NOTES. 

85. From the bay. This is the reading of the stage-direction in the 
folio. Cf. 99 below. 

87. And then. The 1st folio has " And then sir." The later folios 
omit And, and Capell sir, which was probably inserted by accident. 

Fraughtage. Freight, cargo ; used again in 7. and C. prol. 13 : 

" And the deep-drawing barks do there disgorge 
Their warlike fraughtage. ; ' 

P or fraught in the same sense, see T. N. p. 162 ; and for the verb, Temp. 
p. 112. Freight does not occur in S. 

88. Bought. The later folios have " brought." 

89. Balsamum. Used by S. only here, as balsam only in T. of A. iii. 5. 
no. 

93. Peevish. Foolish, silly ; the only sense that Schmidt recognizes in 
S. Cf. iv. 4. 112 below, and see Hen. V.p.iji. 
For the play upon ship and sheep, cf. 71 G. op V. i. 1. 73 : 

"Twenty to one then he is shipp'd already, 
And I have play'd the sheep in losing him ;" 

and L.L.L. ii. 1. 219 : 

" Maria. Two hot sheeps, marry. 
Boyet. And wherefore not ships ?" 

The words are still pronounced alike in Warwickshire and some other 
parts of England. D. quotes Dekker, Satiromastix, 1602 : "this shipskin 
cap shall be put off." Dryden rhymes ship and deep in ALneid, i. 64 : 

"With whirlwinds from beneath she toss'd the ship, 
And bare expos'd the bosom of the deep." 

95. Waftage. Passage ; as in T.and C. iii. 2. n : 

"Like a strange soul upon the Stygian banks, 
Staying for waftage." 

Hire is here a dissyllable ; as in Hen. VIII. ii. 3. 36, A. and C. v. 1. 21, 
etc. Gr. 480. Cf. hour in iii. 1. 121 above. 

98. You sent me for, etc. Steevens inserted "sir " after me, to help out 
the measure. 

101. List me. Elsewhere "list to me ;" as in T of S. ii. 1. 365, W. T 
iv« 4- 55 2 » etc - List is often transitive, however, with the thing heard as 
object ; as in Heft. V. i. 1. 43 : " List his discourse," etc. 

no. Doxvsabel. Her name, as we have learned, is A T ell (iii. 2. no 
above), and the poetic Dowsabel (the Fr. douce et belle), a favourite 
name in pastoral poetry, is applied to her ironically. Malone quotes 
The London Prodigal: "as pretty a Dowsabell as we should chance to 
see in a summer's day." Clarke sees in it "a fleer at the assault she 
made upon him ; to dowse, in old English parlance, signifying to give a 
blow on the face, to strike." 

Scene II. — 2. Mightst thou perceive austerely, etc. Could you see by 
the serious expression of his eye that he was in earnest ? 

6. His heart's me/eors, etc. "Alluding to those meteors in the sky 
[the aurora borealis] which have the appearance of lines of armies meet- 
ing in the shock " ( Warb.). Cf. 1 Hen. IV. L 1. 10 : 



ACT IV. SCENE II. I3S 

"Which, like. the meteors of a troubled heaven, 
All of one nature, of one substance bred, 
Did lately meet in the intestine shock 
And furious close 01 civil butchery." 

Steevens quotes Milton, P. L. ii. 533 : 

" As when, 10 warn proud cities, war appears 
Wag'd in the troubled sky, and armies rush 
To battle in the clouds, belore each van 
Prick forth the aery knights, and couch their spears, 
Till thickest legions close ; with feats of arms 
From either end of heaven the welkin burns." 

7. Denied. Followed by a negative (Gr. 406) ; as in Rich. III. \. 3. 90 : 
" You may deny that you were not the cause," etc. In like manner, it is 
followed by but ; as in Mack Ado, i. 3. ^, A. W. v. 3. 166, Cor. iv, 5.' 243, 
etc. 

8. Spite. Vexation, mortification. Cf. ii. 2. 188 above. 

16. Speak him fair. That is, say any thing to encourage his suit. Cf. 
M.ND. ii. 1. 199: 

"Do I entice you? do I speak you fair? 
Or, rather, do I not in plainest truth 
Tell you, I do not nor I cannot love you?" 

See also iv. 4. 151 below. 

17. Nor I will not. Cf. the " double negative " in 7 and iii. 2. 41 above 
and in the passage just quoted from M. A T . D. 

18. His. Its. See on ii. 1. 17 above. 

19. Sere. "That is, dry, withered " (Johnson). Steevens and Malone 
take the trouble to add examples of the word, which would seem to have 
been less familiar in their day than now. 

20. Shapeless. Unshapely, misshapen. So sightless = unsightly (K. 
John, iii. 1. 45), and featureless- ugly (Sonu. n. 10). 

22. Stigmatical in making. " That is, marked or stigmatized by nature 
with deformity, as a token of his vicious disposition " (Johnson). S. uses 
the word only here ; but cf. the noun stigmatic in 3 Hen. VI. ii. 2. 136 : 

at 'l 1 *^ 3, fouJ ' m i ss hapen stigmatic, 
Mark d by the destinies to be avoided." 

See also 2 Hen. VI. v. 1. 215. 

25. Ah, but I think him better than I say. There is a good deal of 
human nature — or woman nature — in this. 

27. Far from her nest the lapwing cries awav. This trick of the bird 
to divert attention from its nest had become proverbial. Steevens and 
other editors give many examples of it from contemporaneous writers ; 
as from Greene, Second Part of Coney-catching, 1592: "But again to our 
priggers, who, as before I said— cry with the" lapwing farthest from her 
nest, and from their place of residence where their most abode is," etc. 
See also M.for M. i. 4. 32 : 

"though 't is my familiar sin 
With maids to play the lapwing and to jest, 
Tongue far from heart," etc. 

29. Sweet now. The Coll. MS. changes sweet to "swift;" but nveet 
now, like good now (cf. iv, 4. 22 below), was a common phrase of appeal 



136 NOTES. 

or supplication, not necessarily implying any special familiarity. Cf. 
Temp. iv. 1. 124 : " Sweet now, silence !" 

32. Tartar. Tartarus ; as in T. N. ii. 5. 225 : " To the gates of Tar- 
tar, thou most excellent devil of wit ?" and Hen. V. ii. 2. 123 : "vasty Tar- 
tar." On Limbo (still used as a cant term for a prison), see Hen. VIII. 
p. 204, note on Limbo Patrum. 

33. An everlasting garment. A play upon the durability of the ser- 
geant's buff (leather made from buffalo skin). Cf. iv. 3. 23 below : "gives 
them suits of durance;" and 1 Hen. IV. i. 2. 49 : " Is not a buff jerkin a 
most sweet robe of durance ?" See our ed. p. 144. 

To make a rhyme the Coll. MS. has " hath him fell,"'' and Speclding 
conjectures "hath him by the heel.' 1 '' 

35. Fairy. The folios all have " Fairie." Theo. took this to be a mis- 
print tor "Fury," which most editors since have adopted. It may be 
what S. wrote, but, as W. notes, " all fairies were not supposed to be'like 
Oberon and Titania or their attendants ; there were fairies pitiless and 
roughs He might have added that we have distinct reference to these 
malignant fairies in more than one passage in S. Ci Ham. i. 1. 163 ; 
" No fairy takes" (that is, bewitches, blasts) ; and Cymb. ii. 2. 9; 

"To your protection I commend me, gods! 
From fairies and the tempters of the night 
Guard me, beseech ye." 

Perhaps we should add ii. 2. 188 above. Halliwell, after first adopting 
" tury," decided that the old text was correct. 

37. Back-friend. So called here "because he comes from behind to 
arrest one" (Schmidt), as shoulder-clapper also implies. Cf. A. Y. L. iv. 
1. 48: "Cupid hath clapp'd him o' the shoulder " (see our ed. p. 185) ; and 

Cymb. v. 2. 78 : 

■ J . "fight will I no more, 

But yield me to the veriest hind that shall 
Once touch my shoulder." 

Back-friend, aside from the quibble, is = secret enemy. Halliwell cites 
Florio, 1598: " Inimico, an enimie, a foe, an adversarie, a back-friend." 
Hall, in his Henry VII., speaks of" adversaries and backe frends." 

Countermands = stops one in going through ; used by S. only here and 
in R. of L. 276, where it is — contradict, oppose. Theo. changed it to 
"commands." 

38. Lands. Grey conjectured " lanes," which, as the Camb. ed. says, 
is made somewhat more probable by the existence of copies of the 1st 
folio in which the word appears as " lans." A corrector would naturally 
change this to lands rather than to "lanes" on account of the rhyme. 

39. Runs counter. That is, follows the scent backward instead of for- 
ward. See 2 Hen. IV. p. 154 (note on Yo2t hunt counter), or Ham. p. 
249 (on Counter). There is a play on counter, there being two prisons 
in London called the Counter (Johnson and Schmidt). 

Draws dry foot— traces the scent of the game. For i/raw as a hunting 
term (= trace, track), cf. 1 Hen. IV. fit. 3. 129: "a drawn fox." Nans 
r notes Gent. Recr. : " When we beat the bushes, etc. after the fox, we call 
it drawing." The origin of dry-foot is doubtful. Johnson thought that" 



ACT IV. , SCENE III 



l 37 



to draw dry-foot meant to trace the marks of the dry foot, without scent ; 
but Grey, Mason, and others are doubtless correct in making it refer to 
hunting by scent. Schmidt suggests that it was "perhaps so called be- 
cause, according to sportsmen, in water the scent is lost." Dry-foot 
hunting is often mentioned in the old writers ; as in The Dumb Knight, 
1633 (quoted by Steevens) : " I care not for dry-foot hunting," etc. Hal- 
liwell quotes The Miser, 1672 : "Thou art like a dry- foot-dog, that (out 
of a whole heard of deer) singles out one, whose sent he only followes, 
and tires himself to catch that," etc. . 

40. Before the judgment, etc. There is a play on arresting a man be- 
fore judgment, "that is, on what is called mesne process'''' (Malone) ; and 
also on hell, which, as Steevens tells us, was " the cant term for an ob- 
scure dungeon " in a prison. He cites The Counter -Rat, 1658: "In 
Wood-street's hole, or Poultry's hell." There was likewise a place so 
called under the Exchequer Chamber, where the king's debtors were 
confined. Halliwell quotes The Merry Discourse of Meum and Tuum, 
1639 : " a little darke roome . . . hard by Hell, neare to the upper end 
of Westminster Hall." 

42. On the case. "An action upon the case is a general action given 
for the redress of a wrong done any man without force, and not especial- 
ly provided for by law" (Grey). Perhaps, as Halliwell suggests, we 
should omit the apostrophe in ''rested. Palsgrave has " I reste, as a ser- 
gente dothe a prisoner, or his goodes,je arrested 

43. Tell. The Camb. editors conjecture " Well, tell," on account of 
the well in the next line. 

45. He 'j. The reading of the 3d folio. The 1st and 2d folios have 
simply "is," which Malone explains as one of the many instances of the 
ellipsis of the subject. Cf. Gr. 400. 

46. Mistress, redemption. There is no comma after mistress in the ear- 
ly eds., and the 4th folio prints " Mistris Redemption," which Rowe fol- 
lows, apparently supposing that Dromio means to call Luciana " Mistress 
Redemption." The Camb. editors remark that the comma is often omit- 
ted after vocatives in the old editions ; as in iv. 3. 74 and iv. 4. 40 below. 

49. Band. Bond; as in Rich. II. i. 1. 2: "according to thy oath and 
band." See our ed. p. 150 (cf. p. 212, on Bond). The play on the word 
in Dromio's reply is repeated in a different form in iv. 3. 28 below. 

57. Fondly. Foolishly. See on ii. 1. 116 above. 

58. Season. Opportunity. Schmidt paraphrases the sentence thus : 
"Time is seldom so convenient and opportune as one would wish." 

61. Time. The folios have " I ;" corrected by Rowe. Malone reads 
" he," and St. " 'a." 

65. Conceit. Conception, imagination. See W. Zip. 177, or A. Y. L. 
p. 162. 



Scene III. — 5. Some other. Cf. V.and A. 1102 

"That some would 
Would bring him 

So all other (Sonn. 62. 8), etc. 



"That some would sing, some other in their bills 
Would bring him mulberries and ripe-red cherries." 



138 



NOTES. 



7. I$t. Into ; as in ii. 2. 34 above. 

11. Lapland sorcerers. Lapland was supposed to abound in sorcerers 
and witches. This is Shakespeare's only allusion to the region. Cf. 
Milton's one reference to it in P. L. ii. 665 : 

" Nor uglier follow the night-hag, when, call'd 
In secret, riding through the air she comes, 
Lur'd with the smell of infant blood, to dance 
With Lapland witches, while the labouring moon 
Eclipses at their charms." 

13. Have you got the picture of old Adam new-apparelled ? l The picture 
of old Adam is the sergeant, there being a play upon his buff and the 
slang use of the word as applied to the bare skin. What is meant by- 
getting him new-apparelled is not so clear ; but, perhaps, as Sr. suggests, 
the idea is "got him a new suit, in other words, got rid of him." Theo. 
inserted "rid off" after got. Coll. asserts that What have you got? is a 
vulgar phrase for "What have you done with?" or "What is become 
of?" Halliwell remarks that this needs confirmation ; but Mr. Crosby 
says that Coll. is right, and that he remembers hearing the expression 
used in that sense in England twenty-five years ago. He informs us, 
moreover, that this explanation is given in Samuel Phelps's ed. of S. pub- 
lished in London in 185 1. 

17. He that came behind you. See on iv. 2. 37 above. 

22. Bob. That is, a rap, or a clap on the shoulder. Cf. A. Y. L. ii. 7. 

- ) - ) ' "He that a fool doth very wisely hit 

Doth very foolishly, although he smart, 
But to seem senseless of the bob ;" 

that is, seem insensible of the stroke. The folio has "sob" (with the 
long s), for which Rowe reads "fob," and D. conjectures "sop." W. 
has "stop." Bob is Hanmer's correction. 

23. Suits of durance. See on iv. 2. 33 above. That durance (cf. the 
modern lasting) was the name of a very durable fabric is evident from 
various passages cited by Nares and Steevens ; as, for instance, Three 
Ladies of London: "the taylor that out of seven yards stole one and a 
half of durance." Halliwell quotes a bill of 1723, in which "sixteen 
yards of fine durance" is an item. 

24. Sets up his rest. Makes up his mind, is fully resolved ; a phrase 
taken from gaming. See M. of V. p. 139, or R. and J. p. 215. 

25. Mace. The club carried by a bailiff or sergeant as a badge of au- 
thority. See J. C. p. 174, note on Thy leaden mace. The morris-pike 
was a formidable weapon, supposed to be of Moorish origin, whence its 
name (Douce). Cf. Wb. 

35. Hoy. A small vessel, usually sloop-rigged ; a word more familiar 
in England than in this country. S. uses it only here. 

36. Angels. The angel was an English gold coin, worth about ten shil- 
lings. It had on one side a figure of Michael piercing the dragon, whence 
its name. The device is said to have originated in Pope Gregory's pun 
on Angli and Angeli, and it gave rise to a good many puns. See M. W. 
\. 3. 60, Much Ado t ii. 3. 35, M. of V. ii. 7. 56, and 2 Hen. IV. i. 2. 187. 



ACT IV. SCENE III. 



l S9 




GOLDEN ANGEL OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. 

37. Distract. Distracted. Cf. J. C. iv. 3. 155 : " she fell distract," etc. 
Gr.342. 

38. Illusions. A quadrisyllable. See on ii.2. 130 above. 

43. Avoid! Avaunt ! Away! Cf. Temp. iv. 1. 142: "Well done! 
avoid ! no more !" See also Cor. pp. 186, 253. 

46. The devil's dam. This mythical personage is mentioned several 
times in S. See T. of S. p. 152. 

47. Light. Wanton ; a word much played upon by S. See on iii. 2. 
52 above. 

48. As much as to say. The early eds. omit the second as, which was 
supplied by Pope. We find the expression in Much Ado, ii. 3. 270 and 
2 Henry IV. ii. 2. 142 ; and as much to say as in T. A T . i. 5. 62. The old 
reading may possibly be an idiom of the time, but no other example of it 
has been pointed out. 

54. We'll mend our dinner here. "That is, by purchasing something 
additional in the adjoining market " (Malone) ; or " a proposal that the 
dinner, which had been marred by Angelo's failing in his appointment 
with Antipholus at the Porcupine, shall now be mended by a supper" 
(Clarke). Cf. 60 just below. The folios make the sentence a question. 

55. And bespeak a long spoon. Alluding to the familiar proverb about 
the need of a long spoon in feeding with the devil. Cf. Temp. ii. 2. 103 : 
" This is a devil, and no monster : I will leave him ; I have no long 
spoon." For and the folios have "or," which Rowe omitted and Capell 
changed to "so." And is the reading of Halliwell and W. Malone 
conjectured that some words had been lost, like " either stay away, or be- 
speak," etc. Coll. reads, "if you do, or expect spoon-meat, bespeak," 
etc. The 1st folio omits you. 

60. Avoid, thou fiend! The reading of the 4th folio. The earlier folios 
have "then" for thou, "the easiest of all misprints from the similarity of 
e and o in old MS. and of n and u in all MS." (W.). D. reads "thee," 
but, as W. adds, " e and u were very unlike " in the old writing ; and just 
below we have " Avaunt, thou witch !" 

62. Conjure. Accented by S. on either syllable, without reference to 
the meaning. See M. N. D. p. 164. 

67. A drop of blood. Steevens compares Middleton's Witch, where a 
spirit descends and Hecate exclaims: 



I4Q NOTES. 

"There 's one come downe to fetch his dues, 
A kisse, a coll, a sip of blood," etc. 

According to the old superstition, some little token of affiance was always 
required in compacts made with the devil. 

75. Fly pride, says the peacock. "A proverbial phrase, by which Dromio 
rebukes the woman, whom he thinks a cheat, for accusing his master of 
cheating" (Clarke). 

77. Demean. Conduct, behave ; the original and correct sense of the 
word (of. ■demeanour) and the only one in S. Cf. v. 1. 88 below. Wb. is 
clearly wrong in quoting the present passage as an example of demean — 
degrade. 

80. Both one and other. For the omission of the article, cf. T. and C. 
prol. 21 : " On one and other side, Trojan and Greek," etc. Gr. 90. 

85. Belike. It is likely. See on iv. 1. 25 above. 

89. Perforce. By force ; as in v. 1. 1 17 below. See also A. Y. L. p. 141. 

Scene IV. — 6. Attached. Arrested; as in iv. 1. 6 above. Capell joins 
this line to what precedes. The first three folios have a comma after 
both messenger and Ephesus. 

22. Good now. That good, with or without the now, is sometimes used 
vocatively in S. (=good friend, good fellow, etc.), as Abbott (Gr. 13), 
Schmidt, D. {Glossary, s. v.), and others make it, we have not a shadow 
of doubt, and this seems to us clearly one of the instances. H. says: " S. 
has good now repeatedly with the exact meaning of well now.^ That ex- 
planation will not fit some instances of the expression; as W. T. v. I. 19: 

" Now, good now, 
Say so but seldom. 
Cleomenes. Not at all, good lady," etc. 

Here the good now is as clearly a vocative as the good lady that follows. 
See also Ham. p. 173. 

27. Sensible. For the sense played upon, cf. Cor. i. 3. 95 : "I would 
yonr cambric were sensible as your finger," etc. 

50. My long ears. " He means that his master had lengthened his ears 
by frequently pulling them" (Steevens). 

37. Wont. Is wont to bear. Cf. P. P. 273 : " My curtal dog, that wont 
to have play'd." See also 1 Hen. VI. i. 2. 14 and i. 4. 10. In all these 
passages it is the past tense of the obsolete won or wone (=dwell). The 
participle wont (not yet wholly gone out of use) is more common in S. 
Cf. ii. 2. 152 above. We find the present of won in Milton, P. L. vii. 457 : 

"As from his lair the wild beast, where he wons 
In forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den." 

Cf. Spenser, VirgiVs Gnat: 

"Of Poets Prince, whether he woon beside 
Faire Xanthus sprincled with Chimaeras blood, 
Or in the woods of Astery abide." 

The same writer has the past tense in its old literal sense in Colin Clouts 
Come Home Againe, 774: 



ACT IV SCENE IV. I4I 

" I weened sure he was our God alone, 
And only woond in fields and forests here." 

40. Enter . . . Pinch. The folio reads "a schoolemaster, calf d Pinch" 
Steevens remarks that in many country villages in his day the pedagogue 
was still a reputed conjurer. Cf. B. ]., Staple of News : "I would have 
ne'er a cunning school-master in England, I mean a cunning man as a 
school-master; that is, a conjurer," etc. Learning and witchcraft were 
naturally associated in the popular mind. Latin was the language of 
exorcisms. Cf. Ham. i. 1. 42 : " Thou art a scholar ; speak toit, Hora- 
tio " (that is, to the ghost) ; and see our ed. p. 172. 

Respice finem. There seems to be here, as Warb. notes, an allusion to 
a pamphlet by Buchanan against the lord of Liddington, which ends with 
the words Respice finem, respice funem. 

41. Like the parrot. Warb. remarks :" This alludes to people's teach- 
ing that bird unlucky words ; with which, when any passenger was offend- 
ed, it was the standing joke of the wise owner to say, Take heed, sir, my 
parrot prophesies. To this Butler [in Hudibras\ hints, where, speaking 
of Ralpho's skill in augury, he says : 

' Could tell what subtlest parrots mean, 
That speak, and think contrary clean ; 
What member 't is of whom they talk, 
When they cry rope, and walk, knave, walk."' 

These particular phrases must have been commonly taught to parrots, 
for Halliwell cites many references to them. In Lyly's Midas, for in- 
stance, one of the characters says of the bird, "for every home she will 
cry, walke, knave, walke ;" and'another replies, "Then will I mutter, a 
rope for parrat, a rope." Cf. Taylor the Water-Poet, Workes: 

"Why doth the parrat cry, a rope, a rope? 
Because he 's caged in prison out of hope. 

Since I so idly heard the parrat talke, 

In his owne language I say, Walke, knave, walke." 

For the prophecy (meaning, as Coll. says, " respect the prophecy ") Rowe 
reads " prophesie " and D. " to prophesy." The Camb. editors conjecture 
that we should read : 

"or, rather, 'prospice finem,' beware the rope's end. 
Antipholus of E. Wilt thou still talk like the parrot?" 

47. Please you. "Give you as a gratuity" (Clarke). Cf. the use of 
gratify in M. of V. iv. 1. 406 and T. of S. i. 2. 273 (see our ed. p. 141). 

49. Mark how he trembles in his ecstasy ! Those who were bewitched 
or possessed by an evil spirit were supposed to show it by trembling. 
Cf. Temp. ii. 2. 83 : " Thou dost me yet but little hurt ; thou'wilt anon,' I 
know it by thy trembling: now Prosper works upon thee." For ecstasy 
— madness, cf. Ham. iii. 1. 168 : " Blasted with ecstasy." See also Id. ii. 
I. 102, iii. 4. 74, 138, etc. Cf. Macb. p. 21 1. 

58. Customers. " Contemptuously —visitors, guests " (Schmidt). For 
its Mse = harlot, see Oth. p. 197. Malone says: " Here it seems to signify 
on* who visits such women." 



142 



NOTES. 



59. Compci7iion. " A word of contempt, anciently used as we now use 
fellow' 1 '' (Steevens). See Temp. p. 131 (note on Your fellow), or M.N.D. 
P- 125. 

69. Perdy. A corruption of par Dieii. See Hani. p. 229. 

71. 6^/w. Much used in the time of S., and apparently viewed as an 
English word. See A. Y. L. p. 163. 

73. Certes. Certainly ; nearly obsolete in the time of S., who uses it 
only five times. It is a pet archaism with Spenser. 

Kitchen-vestal. " Her charge being," says good Dr. Johnson, " like 
that of the vestal virgins, to keep the fire burning." 

76. Vigour. The Coll. MS. has "rigour." Pope changed his to 
"your." 

77. Soothe. Humour ; as the answer shows. Cf. Lear, iii. 4. 182 : " Good 
my lord, soothe him ; let him take the fellow," etc. 

90. Is. Changed by Rowe to "are ;" but the singular verb is common 
enough with two singular subjects. See Gr. 336. 

91. Deadly. Deathly, deathlike. Cf. V.andA. 1044: "a deadly groan;" 
T. N. i. 5. 284 : " such a deadly life," etc. 

92. Bound and laid in some dark rootn. Cf. v. 1. 248 below. This was 
the common treatment of the insane in the time of S. Cf. A. Y. L. iii. 2. 
421 : " Love is merely a madness, and, I tell you, deserves as well a dark 
house and a whip as madmen do;" and see our ed. p. 178. Cf. Lear, 
p. 251, note on line 82. 

93. Lock me forth. Cf. the use of forth in ii. 2. 209 above. Gr. 41. 
102. These false. Rowe changed these to "those." 

105. Ay me! The folio reading, for which H. and some other editors 
substitute " Ah me !" The latter occurs only in R. and J. v. 1. 10 (per- 
haps by accident), while the former is found some thirty times in the early 
eds. Cf. Milton, Lycidas, 56, 154, Comus, 5 w, P. L. iv. 86, x. 813, etc. Cf. 
v. 1. 186 below. 

112. Peevish. Foolish. See on iv. 1.93 above. 

114. Do . . . displeasure. Cf. v. 1. 142 below. 

117. Discharge. Pay. See on iv. I. 32 above. 

119. The debt grows. See on iv. 1. 8 above, and cf. 132 below. 

122. Unhappy. " Here used in one of the senses of unlucky, that is, 
mischievous " (Steevens). Cf. the Latin infelix, the Fr. malheureux, and 
the German unselig. 

123. Bond. There is an obvious play upon the word. 

135. Whenas. When ; as in V. and A. 999, Sonn. 49. 3, 3 Hen. VI. i. 2. 
75, ii. 1. 46, v. 7. 34, etc. It is printed as two words in the folio. 

142. God, for thy mercy ! Cf. Rich. II. ii. 2. 98 : " God, for his mercy !" 
etc. Gr. 155. 

148. Stuff. "An old word for baggage or luggage. It was formerly 
used with the same widely comprehensive meaning for goods and chattels 
generally, as women nowadays use the word things, or as the Italians use 
their word roba " (Clarke). The word is still current in New England in 
this sense. Cf. Gen. xxxi. 37, xlv. 20, 1 Sam. x. 22, xxv. 13, etc. 

149. Long. Not often used with a subordinate clause ; but cf. 3 Hen. 
VI. iii. 3. 254 : " I long till Edward fall by war's mischance." 



ACT V. SCENE I. 



143 



151. Speak us fair. See on iv. 2. 16 above, and cf. iii. 2. 11. The 2d 
folio has "spake." Capell changed saw to "see." 




Scene I.— 8. Bear. Carry off, win. Cf. T. of A. i. 1. 131 : 

"His honesty rewards him in itself; 
It must not bear my daughter." 

10. That self chain. Cf. M. of V. i. I. 148 : "that self way ;" Hen. V. 
i. 1. I : " that self bill," etc. Gr. 20. 

11. Forszuore . . . to have. That is, swore that he did not have. 
16. Circumstance. Detail. Cf. K. John, ii. I. 77 : 

"The interruption of their churlish drums 
Cuts off more circumstance." 

See also R. and J. p. 178, note on Stay the circumstance. 

25. Heard me to deny. For the to after heard, cf. 2 Hen. VI. ii. I. 94 : 
" Myself have heard a voice to call him so." Gr. 349. 

26. These ears, etc. To fill out the measure, Pope gave "knowest," 
Hanmer "knowest well," and Capell "hear thee, sir." W. conjectures 
" hear thee swear." Hear may be a dissyllable, as Clarke makes it. Cf. 
hire in iv. 1. 95 above, and sour in 45 below. 

30. / '// prove 7nine honour, etc. " The duello was regarded as an 
appeal to Providence, and its issue as determining the side of honour " 
(J- H.). 

34. Get within him. " Close with him, grapple with him " (Steevens). 

36. Take a house. That is, take refuge in a house. 

37. This is some priory. This has been criticised as an anachronism ; 
but see p. 106 above. 

45. Sour. Spelt "sower" in the folios to indicate the dissyllabic pro- 
nunciation. See on 26 above. 

46. Much different. The 2d folio repeats much for the sake of the 
measure. Jervis conjectures "too much.' 1 



I44 NOTES. 

49. Wrack of sea. The later folios have " at " for of. Wrack is uniform. 
]y so spelt in the early eds., and the pronunciation is shown by the rhymes 
alack in Per. iv. prol. 12, and A?r/£ in V. and A. 558, A\ of L. 841, 965, Sonn. 
126. 5, and Macb. v. 5. 51. Cf. shipwracked in i. 1. 1 14 above. 

51. Stray' d. Caused to stray, misled; the only instance of the transi- 
tive use in S. 

62. Copy. Probably = " theme," as Steevens explains it. Perhaps, as 
Clarke suggests, it is = " copious subject," combining the sense of the 
Latin copia, abundance, with that of theme, or subject. Schmidt thinks 
it may be = "a law to be followed, a rule to be observed." 

66. Glanced it. Hinted it ; not elsewhere used transitively by S. 
Some follow Pope in reading " at it." 

70. Poisons. Changed by Pope to "poison." Capell reads "clamour" 
in 69. The construction, however we may explain it, is very common in 
the folio. Abbott (Gr.333) calls it the "3d person plural in -s." It is 
sometimes necessary to the rhyme ; as in V. and A. 1 128, Sonn. 41. 3, 
Macb. ii. 1. 61, Ham. iii. 2. 214, etc. 

71. Sleeps. For the plural, cf. Ham. iv. 7. 30 : " Break not your sleeps 
for that," etc. Malone quotes Sidney, Arcadia: "My sleeps were in- 
quired after, and my wakings never unsaluted." 

74. Digestions. A quadrisyllable. See on ii. 2. 130 above. 

79. But moody, etc. To fill out the measure, Haniner inserted "mop- 
ing" after moody ; and Sr. conjectures "moody sadness." 

80. Kinsman. Simply — " akin," which Hanmer substituted. Capell 
changed it to " kins-woman," putting the " kins-" at the end of 79 ; but, 
as Steevens remarks, this is inadmissible in English verse, unless it be 
of the comic kind. He compares the Homer Travesty: 

" On this Agam- 
memnon began iu curse and damn." 

Ritson compares M. of V. iii. 2. 169 : 

" but now I was the lord 
Of this fair mansion, master of my servants, 
Queen o'er myself." 

82. Distemperatnres. Distempers. Cf. 1 Hen. IV. iii. 1. 34 : " Our 
grandam earth, having this distemperature," etc. Cf. M. N. D. p. 144. 

84. Would mad. Cf. iv. 4. 124 above. S. does not use madden. 

86. Have. The reading of the 2d folio. The 1st has " Hath," which 
may be what S. wrote. See R. and J. p. 140 (on Doth), and Cor. p. 248, 
(on Do). Gr. 334. 

90. She did betray me, etc. See p. 29 above. 

92. In. Into. See on ii. 2. 34 above, and cf. 143 below. 

94. Neither. Cf. 302 below. See also T. G. of V. iii. 1. 196, v. 2. 33, etc 

105. Formal. Ordinary; here = rational. Cf. A. and C. ii. 5. 41 : 

"Thou shouldst come like a Fury crown'd with snakes, 
Not like a formal man;" 

where it means an ordinary man as opposed to a supernatural being. 
See also T. N. ii. 5. 128, where " any formal capacity "=any ordinary in- 



ACT V. SCENE I. , . - 

iellect Similarly, informal, in the only instance of the word in S. (M.for 
M. v. i. 236), = out of one's senses. 

106. Parcel Part ; as in Cor. iv. 5. 231 : "a parcel of their feast," etc. 

117. Perforce. See on iv. 3. 89 above. 

121. Sorry. Changed by the Coll. MS. to "solemn." Henley com- 
pares Macb. ii. 2. 21 : "This is a sorry sight." As Steevens remarks, 
sorry had anciently a stronger meaning than at present. Cf. Chaucer 
C. T. 1 1 743 (Tyrvvhitt, 7283): "the tormentz of this sory place" (that is' 
hell), etc. ' 

Death is the reading of the 3d folio ; the earlier folios have " depth." 
124. Reverend. Here the 1st and 2d folios have " reverent," but " rev- 
erend" in 134 below. The two forms are used indiscriminately in the 
early eds. 

137. Who. The reading of 1st folio, for which the 2d- (followed by 
most modern editors) has "whom." Cf. Macb. iii. 1. 123 : " Who I my- 
self struck down ;" Cor. ii. r. 8: " Who does the wolf love ?" etc Gr 
274. • 

138. Important. Importunate; as in Much Ado, ii. 1. 174: "If the 
prince be too important, tell him there is measure in every thing." See 
also A. W. iii. 7. 21. In Lear, iv. 4. 26, the quartos have " important " 
the folios " importun'd." So importance^ importunity, in T. N. v. 1. 371 
and K. John, ii. 1. 7. Rowe changed important to "all-potent " 

140. That. So that ; as often. Gr. 283. 

142. Doing displeasure. Cf. iv. 4. 1 14 above. 

143. /;/. Into ; as in 92 above. 
J 44- Jewels. See on ii. 1. 109 above. 

146. Take order. Take measures. Cf. Oth. p. 206. 

148. Wot. Know ; used only in the present tense and participle For 
the latter, see W. T. p. 175. 

Strong escape.' " Escape effected by strength, or violence " (Steevens) 
Malone was at first disposed to read "strange," but afterwards became 
satisfied that the text is right. 

150. With. Changed by Capell to " here." Ritson conjectured " then " 
m , 153- Raising of. Cf. A. Y. L. ii. 4. 44 : " searching of thy wound •" Id. 
iv. 3. 10 : " as she was writing of it," etc. Gr. 178. 

169. Are both broke loose, etc. Malone notes that though, according to 
the usage of the time, are broke loose was correct enough (Gr. 295) & ar* 
beaten the maids would not be admissible. He was right, however in 
considering it one of the "confusions of construction " so common in S 
Cf. Gr. 411-415. 

170. A-row. In a tow, one after another. Gr. 24. Cf Spenser F O 

% 12 ' 2 S '' 'Jo 11 her teeth arew '" Steevens q uo tes Chaucer, C. Tn'206 
( lyrwhitt, 6836) : " A thousand tyme arevve he gan hire kisse ;" and Tifr- 
Dervile, Penelope to Ulysses: "The Trojan tentes arowe." Douce adds 
from Hormanm Vulgaria: "I shall tell thee arowe all that I sawe- Ordine 
tibi visa omnia exponam." 

^ 171. Whose beard they have sin/d, etc. It has been conjectured that 
5. may have got the hint of this from North's Plutarch, where, in the Life 
of Dion, it ?s stated that " Dionysius was so fearful and mistrustful of 

K 



146 XOTES. 

everybody that he would suffer no man with a pair of barber's scissors 
to poll the hair of his head, but caused an image-maker of earth to come 
unto him, and with a hot burning coal to burn his goodly bush of hair 
round about." 

174. To him. Omitted by Capell. Hanmer struck out and, and Stee- 
vens and the. 

175. Nicks him like a fool. Malone notes that professional fools were 
shaved and had their hair flicked or notched in a particular manner. He 
cites The Choice of Change, 1598, in which it is said of monks that "they 
are shaven and notched on the head, like fooles." 

183. Scorch. Changed by Warb. to "scotch " (=hack, cut), for which 
see Cor. p. 256. In Macb. iii. 2. 13, "scorch'd " in the folio is pretty clearly 
a misprint — unless it be an old spelling — of " scotch'd ;" but here scorch 
may be used in its familiar sense. Singeing the doctor's beard may have 
suggested scorching his wife's face. As Halliwell remarks, the word 
does not necessarily imply any thing more than burning the skin. He 
cites Rev. xvi. 8. 

192. Bestrid thee. That is, to defend thee when fallen. Cf. I Hen. IV. 
v. 1. 122 : " Hal, if thou see me down in the battle, and bestride me, so ; 
't is a point of friendship." See our ed. p. 197, or Macb. p. 237. The 
past tense and participle are both bestrid in S. 

205. Harlots. Base or lewd fellows. The word was applied to men 
as well as women. See W. T. p. 168. 

210. On night. That is, " o' nights" (T. IV. i. 3. 5), or "a-night" 
(A. Y. L. ii. 4. 48). For the interchange of on, of, and the prefix a-, see 
Gr. 180-182. 

214. I am advised, etc. " That is, I am not going to speak precipitately 
or rashly, but on reflection and consideration" (Steevens). Ci.M~.ofV. 
i. 1. 142 : " with more advised watch ;" Rich. III. ii. 1. 107 : 

"who, in my wrath, 
Kneel'd at my feet, and bade me be advis'd," etc 

See also Lear, p. 196, note on Advise yourself. 

217. Albeit. Several times interchanged with although in the early eds. 
In M. of V. i. 3. 62, the folios have albeit, the 1st quarto although ; in 
1 Hen. IV. i. 3. 128 the folios have although, the quartos albeit ; and 
in Rich. III. iv. 3. 6 the folios have albeit, the quartos although. 

219. Packed. Leagued, in conspiracy ; as in Much Ado, v. 1. 308 : " Who, 
I believe, was pack'd in all this wrong." Cf. the noun pack in M. W. iv. 
2. 123 : " there 's a knot, a ging, a pack, a conspiracy against me," etc. 
Schmidt gives pack that sense in iv. 4. 100 above. H. remarks here that 
"pact is still used for agreement or compact ;" but pact is of course the 
Latin pactum, and has no connection whatever with pack. 

229. God he knows. Cf. Rich. III. iii. 1. 10 : " On what occasion, God 
he knows, not I," etc Gr. 243. 

231. My peasant. Cf. ii. 1.81 above. 

233. Fairly I bespoke. Cf. T. N. v. 1. 192 : "But I bespake you fair, 
and hurt you not." See also iv. 2. 16 and iv. 4. 151 above. 

235, 236. By the way . . . rabble more. One line in the folios. 



ACT V. SCENE I. 147 

239. Anatomy. Skeleton. In K. John, iii. 4. 40, Death is called " that 
iil anatomy." See also T. N. p. 149. 

242. Living dead man. Usually printed "living-dead mail}" but it is 
wite as well without the hyphen, which is not in the folios. 

243. Took on him as a conjurer. Pretended to be a conjurer. Cf. 

2 Hen. IV. iv. I. 60 : "I take not on me here as a physician," etc. 
According to Minsheu, " the difference betweene conjuration and witch- 
craft is that the conjurer seemeth by praiers and invocations of God's 
powerfull names, to compell the devill to say or doe what he command- 
eth ; the witch dealeth rather by a friendlie and voluntarie conference or 
agreement betweene him or her and the devill or familiar, to have his or 
her turne served in lieu or stead of bloud, or other gift offered unto him, 
especially of his or her soule." 

245. With no face, etc. Cf. the play upon half-faced in K. John, i. I- 94 
(see our ed. p. 134). 

248. Dankish. Damp ; used by S. only here. For dank, see 1 Hen. 
IV. p. 156. 

250. In sunder. The reading of the 1st folio. The phrase was ap- 
parently going out of use, as the 2d folio substitutes asunder. In Rich. 
III. iv. 1. 34, the quartos have in sunder, the folios asunder. The only 
other instance of in sunder in S. is in R. of L. 388. 

269. And this is false, etc. Nearly a repetition (and doubtless unin- 
tentional) of 209 above (Coll.). 

270. Impeach. Impeachment, accusation. The noun occurs again in 

3 Hen. VI. i. 4. 60 : " no impeach of valour." 

271. Have drunk of Circe's cup. " Are become as irrational as beasts " 
(Malone). Cf. 1 Hen. VI. v. 3. 35. 

273. Coldly. Coolly, calmly. Cf. R. and J. iii. 1. 55 : 

"Either withdraw into some private place, 
Or reason coldly of your grievances." 

276. With her there. With that woman there ; referring to the Courtesan. 

282. Mated. See on iii. 2. 54 above. 

283. Vouchsafe me speak. For the omission of to, see Gr. 349. We 
find it inserted in 393 below. 

291. Unbound. Dromio plays on the word, as on bound in 306 below. 

299. Careful. Full of care, anxious. Cf. Rich. II. ii. 2. 75 : " O, full 
of careful business are his looks !" See Gr. 3. 

Deformed^ deforming. For this active use of passive participles, see 
Gr.374. 

300. Defeatures, See on ii. 1. 98 above. Cf. also the use of defeat = 
disfigure, in Oth. i. 3. 346. Halliwell quotes Florio : " Disfare, to undoe, 
to spoile, to waste, to marre, to unmake, to defeate." 

302. Neither. See on 94 above. 
308. Splitted. See on i. 1. 103 above. 

310. My feeble key of untuned cares. "The weak and discordant tone 
of my voice, that is changed by grief" (Douce). 

311. Grained. " That is, furrowed, like the grain of wood " (Steevens). 
Cf. Cor. iv. 5. 1 14 : " My grained ash," etc. 



148 



NOTES. 



320. Syracusa, boy. There is no comma in the folios, which led Rowe 
to read " Syracusa bay " and Hanmer " Syracusa's bay."' 

322. Shani'st. For the intransitive use, cf. A. Y. L. iv. 3. 136 : " I do 
not shame to tell you what I was ;" and see our ed. p. 192. 

332. Genius. Attendant spirit. Cf. A. and C. ii. 3. 19: 

"Thy demon, that 's thy spirit which keeps thee, is 
Noble, courageous, high, unmatchable, 
Where Caesar's is not ; but near him thy angel 
Becomes a fear, as being overpower'd ;" 

and Macb. iii. 1. 56: , • . . t . 

There is none but he 

Whose being I do fear ; and under him 
My Genius is rebuk'd, as it is said 
Mark Antony's was by Csesar." 

334. Deciphers. Distinguishes. Cf. M. W. v. 2. 10 : " the white will 
decipher her well enough." 

356-361. Why here begins . . . met together. In the folios these lines 
follow 345. The re-arrangement is due to Capell and is adopted by all 
the editors. 

His morning story refers to that which he has told the Duke in i, 1. 

357. Antipholuses. The folio has " Antipholus," which was, however, 
intended as a plural. Cf. Gr. 471. 

358. Semblance. A trisyllable ( = semb(e)lance), like children in 360. 
See Gr. 477. 

359. Her urging of her wrack. The Coll. MS. changes her in both 
places to "his ;" but the Duke may refer to what ^Emilia has just said. 

361. Which. Who; as often. Gr. 265. 

378. / think it be. Cf. Ham. i. 1. 108 : " I think it be no other but even 
so," etc. Gr. 299. 

388. Errors all arose. The folios have " are arose," which the Camb. 
ed. retains. If it be what S. wrote it \s — have arose, or arisen ; but it is 
more likely a misprint, to be corrected as in the text, which is due to 
Rowe. St. reads " rare arose," as being nearer to the original ; but " are " 
is an easy misprint for all. "Moreover," as Clarke remarks, "all here 
is quite in Shakespeare's style, and is his way of drawing attention to the 
many errors that have occurred, and given the play its name." 

390. // shall not need. Cf. 3 Hen. VI i. 4. 125 : " It needs not." J. H. 
quotes Milton, P. L. iii. 340 : " For regal sceptre then no more shall need." 

397. Sympathized. Mutually shared or suffered. For other peculiar 
uses of the word, see R. of L. 11 13, Sonn. 82. 11, and R. of I. iii. 1. 52. 

399. Satisfaction. Metrically five syllables. See on iv. 1. 5 above. 

400. Thirty - three years. The folio reading, changed by Theo. to 
" twenty-five " and by Capell to "twenty-three." The modern editors 
generally follow Theo., who got his " twenty-five " by putting together 
what JEgeon has said of his son's leaving him at the age of "eighteen" 
(i. I. 125) and of the "seven short years" (309 above) since he saw him. 
Capell's "twenty-three" is derived from i. 1. 125 and i. 1. 132. But, as 
the Camb. eds. (who retain the folio reading) remark, the Duke <=ays 
{326 above) that he has been patron to Antipholus for "twenty years." 



ACT V. SCENE /. T49 

and either three or five seems too early an age to assign for the com- 
mencement of the patronage. Moreover, Antipholus saved the Duke's 
life in the wars "long since" (161, 191 above); and his "long experi- 
ence " of his wife's " wisdom " and her " years " are mentioned in iii. 1. 88, 
89. We are inclined to think it is only one of several instances of the 
poet's carelessness in these little arithmetical matters. See 7. of S. p. 
128 (note on This seven), T. N. p. 126 (on Three days), and Hen. V. p. 147 
(on Four hundred one and twenty years). Cf. also M. N. D. p. 122. 

402. Ne'er. The 1st folio has " are," and the 2d changes burden to the 
plural. Capell reads " not," W. " here," and Coll. " undelivered." Ne'er 
is due to D. 

404. The calendars. That is, the two Dromios. Cf. i. 2. 41 above. 

4^5- A gossips'/east. That is, a sponsors' feast. Gossip in this sense 
is both masculine and feminine. Cf. W. T, ii. 3. 41 and Hen. VIII. v. 5. 
13- 

Go with me. Warb. changed go to "gaud," and Heath conjectured 
"joy," which W. and H. adopt ; but, as Clarke remarks, "go with vie is 
the burden of the Abbess's speech throughout." The Camb. editors con- 
jecture, " So to a gossips' feast all go with me." Mr. Crosby would read, 

"Go to a gossips' feast, and 'joy with me — 
After so long grief— such nativity ;" 

that is, " enjoy this birth, after such a long travail, with me at a feast of 
gossips" 

406. Such nativity! Hanmer changed nativity to " felicity," and D. 
and some others adopt Johnson's conjecture of " festivity." The Camb. 
editors, Coll., Clarke, and W. retain nativity. Clarke well defends it thus : 
"There is something in the repetition of nativity which harmonizes with 
^Emilia's dwelling on the fact that this present hour \$ the birth-hour of 
her sons. Such reiterations in speeches at the close of a play are not 
unfrequent with S., who often, as it appears to us, gives this kind of con- 
fusedly repeated constructions, partly to indicate the tumult of feeling in 
the speaker, partly to impress upon the audience any special point tow- 
ards which he desires to draw their attention." 

407. Gossip. Make merry. Cf. K. John, v. 2. 59 : 

"at feasts, 
Full of warm blood, of mirth, of gossiping." 

410. Lay at host in. That is, were put up at. Cf. i. 2. 9 above. 

415. Kitchen 'd me. Entertained me in the kitchen; the only instance 
of the verb in S. 

418. Sweet-fac'd. Cf. M. N. D. i. 2. 88: "Pyramus is a sweet-fac'd 
man." 

422. Senior. The 1st and 2d folios have "signior," and the others 
" Signiority." Senior is Pope's correction. 




INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES 
EXPLAINED. 



ache (spelling), 125. 

advised, I am, 146. 

aim (transitive), 129. 

albeit, 146. 

almanac of my true date, 

113- , 
alone, alone, H7» 
amain, in. 
America, 130. 
anatomy, 147- 
angel (coin), 138. 
Antipholus, 108. 
apparently, 133- 
armadoes, 130. 
a-row, 145. 
as (=that), 1 10. 
aspect (accent), 119. 
assured (=affianced), 130. 
at board, 127. 
attach (=arrest), 132, 140. 
attaint, 127. 
avoid ! 139. 
ay me ! 142. 

back-friend, 136. 

ballast, 130. 

balsamum, 134- 

band (=bond), 137- 

bear (=win), 143. 

befallen of, in. 

Belgia, 130. 

belike, 132, 140. 

beshrew, 116. 

besides (preposition), 129. 

bespeak a long spoon, 139. 

bestow (=employ), 132. 

bestowed, 114. 

bestrid, 146. 

bloods, 108. 

bob (=rap), 138. 

bond (play upon\ 142. 

both one and other, 140. 

bought and sold, 125. 

bound (play upon), 147- 

broke (=broken), 113- 

buff, 136. 

buy this sport as dear 

»33- 



calendars (figurative), 149 

capon, 125. 

caracks, 130. 

carat, 133. 

carcanet, 124. 

careful (=anxious), 147- 

carve to, 120. 

cates, 124. 

certes, 142. 

chalky cliffs, 130. 

changeful, 133. 

charged him with, 124. 

Circe's cup, 147. 

circumstance, 143. 

clean (=quite), in. 

coil (=ado), 125: 

coldly (—-calmly), 147. 

common (noun), 119. 

compact of credit, 127. 

companion, 142. 

conceit (=conception), 127, 

137- 

confiscate, 109. 
confounds himself, 113. 
confusion (=ruin), 122. 
conjure (accent), 139. 
consecrate. 121. 
consort (=keep company), 

113- 
copy (=theme), 144- 
counter (play upon), 136. 
countermands, 136. 
curtail, 131. 
customers, 141. 

dankish, 147. 
dark- working, 114. 
deadly (=deathly), 142. 
death, the, 112. - 
debted, 133- 
deciphers, 148. > 
decline (=incline), 127. 
deep-divorcing, 121. 
deer (play upon), 117- 
defeatures, 116, 147. 
deformed (=deformmg), 147- 
demean, 140. 
denied (with negative), i35- 



devil's dam, the, 139. 

digestions (metre), 144. 

dilate (=relate), in. 

disannul, 112. 
, discharge (=pay), 142. 
I discharged (=paid), 133. 
I dispense with, 117. 
j dispose (noun), no. 
i disposed(=disposedof),ii4. 

distemperatures, 144. 
J distract (=distracted), 139. 

diviner, 130. 

do displeasure, 142, 145. 

doubtfully (play upon ?), 1 16. 

Dowsabel, 134. 

draws dry-foot, 136. 

dry basting, 119. 

durance, 138. 

earnest (play upon), 118. 
ecstasy (=madness), 141. 
elm (figurative), 122. 
embracements, no. 
Epidamnum, no. 
everlasting garment, 136. 
excrement, 1 19. 
exempt (^separated), 122. 

fair (=fairness), no. 
fairly I bespoke, 146. 
fairy (malignant), 136. 
fall (transitive), 121. 
falsing, 120. 
far from her nest the lapwing 

cries, 135. 
fast (play upon), 114. 
feeble key of untuned cares, 

147. 
fine and recovery, 119. 
fly pride, says the peacock, 

140. 
folded (^concealed), 127. 
fond (=doting), 118. 
fondly (=foohshly), 137. 
fool-begged, 116. 
for (=because), no. 
for why, 129. 
forbid (=forbidden), 114- 



152 



INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES EXPLAINED. 



formal (=ordinary), 144. 
forswore to have, 143. 
forth (=away from home), 

123. 
forth (=out), 113, 142. 
fraughtage, 134. 

genius, 148. 

get within him, 143. 

Gillian, 125. 

Ginn, 124. 

glanced it, 144. 

God, for thy mercy! 142. 

God he knows, 146. 

good now, 140. 

gossip (=make merry), 149. 

gossips' feast, 149. 

grained, 147. 

growing ( =-.accruing), 132, 

142. 
guilders, 108, 132. 
guilty to, 131. 

hairs, 128. 

harlots (masculine), 146. 
hatch (noun), 125. 
healthful, hi. 
heart's meteors, 134. 
heir (play upon), 219. 
help (repeated), 112. 
helpless, 116. 
hire (dissyllable), 134. 
his (=its), 115, 117, 135. 
hit of, 127. 
holp, 132. 
horn-mad, it6. 
host (verb), 112. 
hour (dissyllable), 126. 
how chance, 113. 
hoy, 138. 

I buy a thousand pound a 

year! 132. 
I think it be, 148. 
idle (=barren), 122. 
illusions (metre), 139. 
impeach (noun), 147. 
important ( =importunate), 

145- 
importune (accent), hi, 132, 

133. 
in(=into), 119,138, 144, 145- 
in despite of mirth, 126. 
in post, 113. 
in sunder, 147. 
incorporate, 121. 
inspiration (metre), 122. 
instance (=sign), no. 
is wandered, 118. 
it shall not need, 148. 

jest upon, 119. 
jewel. 117. 145. 



kinsman (=akin), 144. 
kitchened me, 149. 
kitchen-vestal, 142. 
know my aspect, 119. 

Lapland sorcerei - s, 138. 

lashed, 115. 

latter-born, no. 

lay at host in, 149. 

lets (=hinders), 117. 

liberties of sin, 114. 

licentious (metre), 121. 

lifeless end, 112. 

light (= wanton), 139. 

light (play upon?), 128. 

Limbo, 136. 

list me, 134. 

living dead man, 147. 

long ( with a subordinate 
clause), 142. 

long spoon, bespeak a, 139. 

Love (=Venus), 128.. 

love-springs, 126. 

Low Countries (play upon), 
, 130. 
I Luce (play upon), 125. 

I mace, 138. 

mad (verb), 144. 
[ make the doors, to, 126. 
! malt-horse, 125. 
j marks (play upon), 114. 

mated (=mad), 147. 

mated (play upon), 128. 

mean (=means), 113. 

merchant (metre*, 112. 

mermaid (=siren), 128. 

mickle, 125. 

minions (=favourites), 116. 

mome, 125. 

mood (=anger), 122. 

more hair than wit, 119. 

mortal (=deadly), 108. 

moves (=appeals to), 123. 

nativity, 149. 

nature (=natural feeling), 

no. 
need (impersonal), 148. 
neither, 144, 147. 
nicks him like a fool, 146. 
no (=not), 112. 

o'er-raught, 114. 
of (=out of). III. 
on night, 146. 
on the case, 137. 
once'this, 126. 
other where, 115, 117. 
owe (=own), 125. 

packed, 146. 
parcel (=part), 145. 



parrot, like the, 141. 
part (=depart), 125. 
partial to infringe, etc., 108. 
passage, 126. 
patch (=fool), 125. 
pause (=rest), 115. 
peasant, 146. 

peevish (=silly), 134, 142. 
penitent (=doing penance), 

"3- 
perdy, 142. 
perforce ( =by force ), 140, 

i45- 

perse ver, 124. 

peruse the traders, 112. 

Phoenix, the, 114. 

picture of old Adam, etc., 

138. 
plainings, no. 
please (=give a gratuity), 

141. 
pleaseth you, 132. 
Porpentine, 126. 
post (play upon), 113. 
pound (plural), 132. 
presently, 131. 
procrastinate, 112. 
put the finger in the eye, 123. 

quit (=remit), no. 

raising of, 145. 

reave, in. 

respice finem, 141. 

reverend, 145. 

reverted, 129. 

rhyme nor reason, 119. 

round (play upon), 117. 

run this humour out of 

breath, 133. 
runs counter, 136. 

sans. 142. 

satisfaction (metre*, 132, 148. 

sconce, 114, 119. 

scorch, 146. 

season ( = opportunity), 137. 

self (adjective), 143. 

semblance (trisyllable), 148. 

send me by some token, 133. 

senior. 149. 

sensible (play upon), 140. 

sere, 135. 

sets up his rest, 138. 

shamest (intransitive), 148. 

shapeless( = misshapen), 135. 

since (with past tense), 118. 

sinking-ripe, no. 

sir- reverence, 129. 

situate, 115. 

sleeps (noun), 144. 

so (omitted). 130, 145. 

so fair an offered chain, 131. 



INDEX OF WORDS AND PHRASES EXPLAINED. 153 



Solinus (spelling), 108. 

some other, 137. 

soon at five o'clock, 113. 

soothe (=humour), 142. 

sorry, i45> 

sot (=dolt), 123. 

sour (dissyllable), 143. 

speak him fair, 135, 143. 

spite (=vexation), 135. 

splitted, in, 147. 

spurn at, 121. 

stale (play upon), 117. 

stands upon, 133. 

stigmatical in making, 135. 

stomach (=appetite), 113. 

strayed (transitive), 144. 

strong escape, 145. 

strucken, 113. 

strumpeted, 121. 

stuff (=luggage), 142. 

succession (metre), 126. 

suits of durance, 138. 

supposed, 126. 

suspect (noun), 126. 

swart, 129. 

sweet now, 135. 



sweet-faced, 149. 
sympathized, 148. 
synod, 108. 
Syracusians, 109. 

take a house, 143. 

take order, 145. 

Tartar (=Tartarus), 136. 

that (affix), 112, 118, 119. 

thirty-three years, 148. 

timely (=early), in. 

to (infinitive), 143, 147. 

took (=taken), 116. 

took on him as a conjurer, 

147. 
towards (accent), in. 
train (=eniice), 127. 
trimming, 120. 
turn i' the wheel, 131. 

unbound (play upon), 147. 
understand (play upon), 116. 
ungalled, 126. 
unhappy, 142. 

vain (= foolish), 131. 



vain ( =light of tongue ), 

. I2 7- 
villain (=vassal), 113. 

vulgar, 126. 

waftage, 134. 

wafts (beckons), 120. 

weary (sun), 112. 

week (play upon?), 129. 

well-advised, 124. 

what (=why), 127, 133. 

what have you got? 138. 

what please, 131. 

whenas, 142. 

when? can you tell? 125. 

whether (monosyllable), 133. 

which (=who), 148. 

who (=whom), 145. 

will (=shall), 133. 

will (=would), 114. 

wink ( = shut the eyes), 128. 

won (=dwell), 140. 

wont (=is wont), 140.!" 

wot, 145. 

wrack, 144. 

wrong not that wrong, 122. 





THE FALCON TAVERN, BANKSIDE, LONDON. 



SHAKESPEARE. 

WITH NOTES BY WM. J. ROLFE, A.M. 



The Merchant of Venice. 

The Tempest. 

Julius Caesar. 

Hamlet. 

As You Like it. 

Henry the Fifth. 

Macbeth. 

Henry the Eighth. 

A Midsummer -Night's Dream. 

Richard the Second. 

Richard the Third. 

Much Ado About Nothing. 

Antony and Cleopatra. 

Romeo and Juliet. 

Othello. 

Twelfth Night, 

The Winter's Tale. 

King John. 

Henry IV. Part I. 

Henry IV. Part II. 



King Lear. 

The Taming of the Shrew. 

All 's Well That Ends Well. 

Coriolanus. 

Comedy of Errors. 

Cymbeline. 

Merry Wives of Windsor. 

Measure for Measure. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona. 

Love's Labour 's Lost. 

Timon of Athens. 

Henry VI. Part I. 

Henry VI. Part II. 

Henry VI. Part III. 

Troilus and Cressida. 

Pericles, Prince of Tyre. 

The Two Noble Kinsmen. 

Poems. 

Sonnets. 

Titus Andronicus. 



Illustrated. i6mo, Cloth, 56 cents per vol. ; Paper, 40 cents per vol. 

FRIENDLY EDITION, complete in 20 vols., i6mo, Cloth, $30 00 ; 
Half Calf, $60 00. {Sold only in Sets.) 

In the preparation of this edition of the English Classics it has been 
the aim to adapt them for school and home reading, in essentially the 
same way as Greek and Latin Classics are edited for educational pur- 
poses. The chief requisites are a pure text (expurgated, if necessary), 
and the notes needed for its thorough explanation and illustration. 

Each of Shakespeare's plays is complete in one volume, and is pre- 
ceded by an Introduction containing the " History of the Play," the 
" Sources of the Plot," and " Critical Comments on the Play." 



From Horace Howard Furness, Ph.D., LL.D., Editor of the " Nero 
Variorum Shakespeare.' 1 '' 

No one can examine these volumes and fail to be impressed with the 
conscientious accuracy and scholarly completeness with which they are 
edited. The educational purposes for which the notes are written Mr. 
Rolfe never loses sight of, but like "a well-experienced archer hits the 
mark his eve doth level at." 



Rolfe^s Shakespeare. 



From F. J. FuRNIVALL, Director of the New Shakspere Society, Loudon. 

The merit I see in Mr. Rolfe's school editions of Shakspere's Plays 
over those most widely used in England is that Mr. Rolfe edits the plays 
as works of a poet, and not only as productions in Tudor English. Some 
editors think that all they have to do with a play is to state its source 
and explain its hard words and allusions; they treat it as they would a 
charter or a catalogue of household furniture, and then rest satisfied. 
But Mr. Rolfe, while clearing up all verbal difficulties as carefully as any 
Dryasdust, always adds the choicest extracts he can find, on the spirit 
and special "note" of each play, and on the leading characteristics of its 
chief personages. He does not leave the student without help in getting 
at Shakspere's chief attributes, his characterization and poetic power. 
And every practical teacher knows that while every boy can look out 
hard words in a lexicon for himself, not one in a score can, unhelped, 
catch points of and realize character, and feel and express the distinctive 
individuality of each play as a poetic creation. 

From Prof. Edward Dowden, LL.D., of the University of Dublin, Au- 
thor of " Shakspere : His Mind and Art." 

I incline to think that no edition is likely to be so useful for school and 
home reading as yours. Your notes contain so much accurate instruc- 
tion, with so little that is superfluous; you do not neglect the aesthetic 
study of the play ; and in externals, paper, type, binding, etc., you make 
a book " pleasant to the eye " (as well as " to be desired to make one 
wise") — no small matter, I think, with young readers and with old. 

From Edwin A. Abbott, M. A., Author of " Shakespearian Grammar.'" 

I have not seen any edition that compresses so much necessary infor- 
mation into so small a space, nor any that so completely avoids the com- 
mon faults of commentaries on Shakespeare — needless repetition, super- 
fluous explanation, and unscholar-like ignoring of difficulties. 

From Hiram Corson, M.A., Professor of Anglo-Saxon and English 
Literature, Cornell University, Ithaca, A r . Y. 

In the way of annotated editions of separate plays of Shakespeare, for 
educational purposes, I know of none quite up to Rolfe's. 



Rolfe's Shakespeare. 



From Prof. F. J. Child, of Harvard University. 

I read your " Merchant of Venice " with my class, and found it in every 
respect an excellent edition. I do not agree with my friend White in the 
opinion that Shakespeare requires but few notes — that is, if he is to be 
thoroughly understood. Doubtless he may be enjoyed, and many a hard 
place slid over. Your notes give all the help a young student requires, 
and yet the reader for pleasure will easily get at just what he wants. 
You have indeed been conscientiously concise. 

Under date of July 25, 1879, Prof. Child adds: Mr. Rolfe's editions 
of plays of Shakespeare are very valuable and convenient books, whether 
for a college class or for private study. I have used them with my 
students, and I welcome every addition that is made to the series. They 
show care, research, and good judgment, and are fully up to the time in 
scholarship. I fully agree with the opinion that experienced teachers 
have expressed of the excellence of these books. 

From Rev. A. P. PeaBODY, D.D., Professor in Harvard University. 

I regard your own work as of the highest merit, while you have turned 
the labors of others to the best possible account. I want to have the 
higher classes of our schools introduced to Shakespeare chief of all, and 
then to other standard English authors ; but this cannot be done to ad- 
vantage unless under a teacher of equally rare gifts and abundant leisure, 
or through editions specially prepared for such use. I trust that you 
will have the requisite encouragement to proceed with a work so hap- 
pily begun. 

From the Examiner and Chronicle, N. Y. 

We repeat what we have often said, that there is no edition of Shake- 
speare which seems to us preferable to Mr. Rolfe's. As mere specimens 
of the printer's and binder's art they are unexcelled, and their other 
merits are equally high. Mr. Rolfe, having learned by the practical ex- 
perience of the class-room what aid the average student really needs in 
order to read Shakespeare intelligently, has put just that amount of aid 
into his notes, and no more. Having said wliat needs to be said, he stops 
there. It is a rare virtue in the editor of a classic, and wfc are propor- 
tionately grateful for it. 



Rolfe^s Shakespeare. 



From the N. Y. Times. 

This work has been done so well that it could hardly have been done 
better. It shows throughout knowledge, taste, discriminating judgment, 
and, what is rarer and of yet higher value, a sympathetic appreciation of 
the poet's moods and purposes. 

From the Pacific School Journal, San Francisco. 

This edition of Shakespeare's plays bids fair to be the most valuable 
aid to the study of English literature yet published. For educational 
purposes it is beyond praise. Each of the plays is printed in large clear 
type and on excellent paper. Every difficulty of the text is clearly ex- 
plained by copious notes It is remarkable how many new beauties one 
may discern in Shakespeare with the aid of the glossaries attached to 
these books. . , . Teachers can do no higher, better work than to incul- 
cate a love for the best literature, and such books as these will best aid 
them in cultivating a pure and refined taste. 

From the Christian Union, N. Y. 

Mr.W. J. Rolfe's capital edition of Shakespeare ... by far the best edi- 
tion for school and parlor use We speak after some practical use of it 
in a village Shakespeare Club. The notes are brief but useful ; and the 
necessary expurgations are managed with discriminating skill. 

From the Academy, London. 

Mr. Rolfe's excellent series of school editions of the Plays of Shake- 
speare . . . they differ from some of the English ones in looking on the 
plays as something more than word- puzzles. They give the student 
helps and hints on the characters and meanings of the plays, while the 
word-notes are also full and posted up to the latest date. , . . Mr. Rolfe 
also adds to each of his books a most useful " Index of Words and 
Phrases Explained." 



Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York 

SW A ny of the above works will be sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of iht 
United States or Canada, on receipt of the price. 



OLIVER GOLDSMITH. 

SELECT POEMS OF OLIVER GOLDSMITH. Edited, 
with Notes, by William J. Rolfe, A.M., formerly Head 
Master of the High School, Cambridge, Mass. Illus- 
trated. i6mo, Paper, 40 cents ; Cloth, 56 cents. {Uni- 
form with Rolfe 's Shakespeare?) 



The carefully arranged editions of " The Merchant of Venice" and 
other of Shakespeare's plays prepared by Mr. William J. Rolfe for the 
use of students will be remembered with pleasure by many readers, and 
they will welcome another volume of a similar character from the same 
source, in the form of the " Select Poems of Oliver Goldsmith," edited 
with notes fuller than those of any other known edition, many of them 
original with the editor.— Boston Transcript. 

Mr. Rolfe is doing very useful work in the preparation of compact 
hand-books for study in English literature. His own personal culture 
and his long experience as a teacher give him good knowledge of what 
is wanted in this way.— The Congregationalism Boston. 

Mr. Rolfe has prefixed to the Poems selections illustrative of Gold- 
smith's character as a man, and grade as a poet, from sketches by Ma- 
caulay, Thackeray, George Colman, Thomas Campbell, John Forster, 
and Washington Irving. He has also appended at the end of the 
volume a body of scholarly notes explaining and illustrating the poems, 
and dealing with the times in which they were written, as well as the 
incidents and circumstances attending their composition. — Christian 
Intelligencer, N. Y. 

The notes are just and discriminating in tone, and supply all that is 
necessary either for understanding the thought of the several poems, or 
for a critical study of the language. The use^of such books in the school- 
room cannot but contribute largely towards putting the study of English 
literature upon a sound basis ; and many an adult reader would find in 
the present volume an excellent opportunity for becoming critically ac- 
quainted with one of the greatest of last century's poets.— Appletons 
Journal, N. Y. 



Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. 

i^~ Sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any fart of the United States or Canada, on 

receipt of the price. 



THOMAS GRAY. 

SELECT POEMS OF THOMAS GRAY. Edited, with 
Notes, by William J. Rolfe, A.M., formerly Head 
Master of the High School, Cambridge, Mass. Illus- 
trated. Square i6mo, Paper, 40 cents ; Cloth, 56 cents. 
( Uniform with Rolfe 's Shakespeare.) 



Mr. Rolfe has done his work in a manner that comes as near to per- 
fection as man can approach. He knows his subject so well that he is 
competent to instruct all in it ; and readers will find an immense amount 
of knowledge in his elegant volume, all set forth in the most admirable 
order, and breathing the most liberal and enlightened spirit, he being a 
warm appreciator of the divinity of genius. — Boston Traveller. 

The great merit of these books lies in their carefully edited text, and in 
the fulness of their explanatory notes. Mr. Rolfe is not satisfied with 
simply expounding, but he explores the entire field of English literature, 
and therefrom gathers a multitude of illustrations that are interesting in 
themselves and valuable as a commentary on the text. He not only in- 
structs, but stimulates his readers to fresh exertion ; and it is this stimu- 
lation that makes his labor so productive in the school-room. — Saturday 
Evening Gazette, Boston. 

Mr. William J. Rolfe, to whom English literature is largely indebted 
for annotated and richly illustrated editions of several of Shakespeare's 
Plays, has treated the " Select Poems of Thomas Gray " in the same way 
— just as he had previously dealt with the best of Goldsmith's poems. — • 
Philadelphia Press. 

Mr. Rolfe's edition of Thomas Gray's select poems is marked by the 
same discriminating taste as his other classics. — Springfield Republican. 

Mr. Rolfe's rare abilities as a teacher and his fine scholarly tastes ena- 
ble him to prepare a classic like this in the best manner for school use. 
There could be no better exercise for the advanced classes in our schools 
than the critical study of our best authors, and the volumes that Mr. Rolfe 
has prepared will hasten the time when the study of mere form will give 
place to the study of the spirit of our literature. — Louisville Courier- 
yournal. 

An elegant and scholarly little volume. — Christian Intelligencer, N. Y, 



Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. 

Sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States or Canada, on 
receipt of the price. 



